Fox News: Republicans For Obama
Barack Obama’s campaign is rolling out a number of centrist Republicans who are endorsing the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee over Republican rival John McCain — in a show of his ability to win cross-over votes.
A conference call Tuesday featured former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, former White House intelligence adviser Rita Hauser and former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who represented his state as a Republican, but switched to become a Democrat so he could vote for Obama in the primary. “I’m convinced that the national interest demands a new approach to our interaction with the world,” said Leach, adding that Obama offers the leadership to do that.
Leach lost his bid for another term in office in 2006. He was a foreign service officer before being elected to Congress and served as head of both the International Relations and Banking committees. Leach predicted that a lot of Republicans and independents are going to be attracted by Obama’s campaign.
The Obama camp also pointed journalists to reports that Fairbanks, Alaska, Mayor Jim Whitaker, a Republican, also has announced his support for Obama. Obama’s GOP supporters’ criticisms of McCain are familiar ones — that he’d represent four more years of Bush-Cheney policies, particularly in foreign affairs. Hauser complained that McCain’s statement on Georgia was “bellicose” in threatening to kick Russia out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and that Obama’s statement was much more appropriately internationalist.
They also reversed a line McCain has used against Obama. While McCain has said Obama wants to put party before country, Hauser and Leach said that in supporting Obama, they were putting country before party. Chaffee complained that McCain was fine in 2000 when he voted against Bush tax cuts and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but that he’s no longer the same man.
Leach, meanwhile, touted Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska as a Republican who might fit in an Obama administration. The group says it’s not fundraising, but plans to start a website this week where Republicans can go to find out more about why Obama would be better than McCain — whom they say they respect.
The site will also be a gathering place for interfacing with other like-minded Republicans. Hauser wouldn’t go into any other big names who are part of the group, but said it’s not necessarily geared toward grabbing big-name Republicans, but rather claiming anecdotal evidence of thousands of Republicans already ready to vote Obama.
A conference call Tuesday featured former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, former White House intelligence adviser Rita Hauser and former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who represented his state as a Republican, but switched to become a Democrat so he could vote for Obama in the primary. “I’m convinced that the national interest demands a new approach to our interaction with the world,” said Leach, adding that Obama offers the leadership to do that.
Leach lost his bid for another term in office in 2006. He was a foreign service officer before being elected to Congress and served as head of both the International Relations and Banking committees. Leach predicted that a lot of Republicans and independents are going to be attracted by Obama’s campaign.
The Obama camp also pointed journalists to reports that Fairbanks, Alaska, Mayor Jim Whitaker, a Republican, also has announced his support for Obama. Obama’s GOP supporters’ criticisms of McCain are familiar ones — that he’d represent four more years of Bush-Cheney policies, particularly in foreign affairs. Hauser complained that McCain’s statement on Georgia was “bellicose” in threatening to kick Russia out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and that Obama’s statement was much more appropriately internationalist.
They also reversed a line McCain has used against Obama. While McCain has said Obama wants to put party before country, Hauser and Leach said that in supporting Obama, they were putting country before party. Chaffee complained that McCain was fine in 2000 when he voted against Bush tax cuts and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but that he’s no longer the same man.
Leach, meanwhile, touted Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska as a Republican who might fit in an Obama administration. The group says it’s not fundraising, but plans to start a website this week where Republicans can go to find out more about why Obama would be better than McCain — whom they say they respect.
The site will also be a gathering place for interfacing with other like-minded Republicans. Hauser wouldn’t go into any other big names who are part of the group, but said it’s not necessarily geared toward grabbing big-name Republicans, but rather claiming anecdotal evidence of thousands of Republicans already ready to vote Obama.
posted by Daily Observer at 6:24 PM
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