Colin Powell and The Houston Chronicle Make Bold Sunday Endorsements

I don’t usually do this, but a reader (actually probably someone who “googled” the keywords presidential newspaper endorsements) had this to say about my prediction of an Obama landslide victory in this posting from a couple of days ago:

“And now even Colin Powell, the guy who went before the UN with the "weapons of mass destruction" argument, has endorsed Obama.”

“An impending landslide? For sure. A tsunami, an avalanche, a blow-out. Obama was always going to win this election. But now, as the train is leaving the station, everyone's going to get on board.”

General Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama is huge. The McCain campaign shrugged it off, naturally, saying that they have the endorsements of over 200 retired generals and admirals. But does anyone know their names? Absolutely everyone knows who Colin Powell is and who he worked for (and whose father he worked for). If you want to put it in military terms, the “USS John McCain” just took an Exocet missile in her ammunition magazine.

But where Colin Powell’s endorsement will have national effect, I want to point out another Sunday endorsement that will have local effect in SE Texas. The Houston Chronicle just announced its endorsement of Barack Obama for President of the United States.

“After carefully observing the Democratic and Republican nominees in drawn-out primary struggles as well as in the general campaign, including three debates, the Chronicle strongly believes that the ticket of Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden offers the best choice to lead the United States on a new course into the second decade of the 21st century.”

And further down . . .

“Perhaps the worst mistake McCain made in his campaign for the White House was the choice of the inexperienced and inflammatory Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Had he selected a moderate, experienced Republican lawmaker such as Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison with a strong appeal to independents, the Chronicle's choice for an endorsement would have been far more difficult.”

This endorsement, I need to point out, is the first time the Chronicle endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate since they endorsed LBJ in 1964. A kind of no-brainer at the time, since as Vice President, Lyndon Johnson brought NASA to Houston. But by contrast, Barack Obama has brought nothing to Houston but a couple of rallies (the first attended by yours truly). So this endorsement is huge for southeast Texas.

Now I don’t subscribe to The Houston Chronicle, not because I have some misgivings with their politics, but because I object to the waste of resources that newspapers in general contribute to, especially in the internet age where it’s all online anyway (except for the crossword puzzle). But now I find myself in a dilemma. The Chronicle is sure to take a hit in its subscriber list over this endorsement. McCain’s “base” lives here among us. And they aren’t going to take kindly to this, a Democratic endorsement from a newspaper they have come to think of as one of their own.

Case in point. Here presented verbatim is one of the 310 comments the Chronicle has on its website under the op/ed endorsement piece:

“NEWSPAPERS ARE NOT SUPPOSE TO BE PARTISAN AS WELL AS MEDIA IN GENERAL.BY DOING SO YOU WILL LOOSE YOUR INTEGRITY AND PART OF YOUR CUSTOMERS.REMEMBER THAT NOT ALL YOUR CLIENTS ARE DEMS.I GUESS THE CHRONICLE DON'T CARE.I WILL NOT CARE ABOUT READING THIS PAPER ANYMORE COZ NOW I KNOW IT'S BIAS.AU REVOIR!”

[I wonder whether this ex-reader knows that "au revoir," translated from French, means "until the next time I see you." Probably not.]

So there’s my dilemma. Must I now break with tradition and subscribe to the Chronicle? I hate the waste of newsprint and ink that newspapers make, but on the other hand, I am coming to the end of my LA Times crossword puzzle book.

So maybe it’s time.