by Frank James
Little late to the party on this but it's still worth noting. Christopher Buckley, son of the late conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr. has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama.
With typical Buckleyan wit, the former Esquire editor and White House speech writer (Bush 41) makes clear he hasn't jumped ship and become a liberal. Instead his decision springs more from his disappointment with Sen. John McCain than any embrace of Obama's guiding political philosophy or agenda.
Here's an excerpt from the Daily Beast:
As to the particulars, assuming anyone gives a fig, here goes:
I have known John McCain personally since 1982. I wrote a well-received speech for him. Earlier this year, I wrote in The New York Times--I'm beginning to sound like Paul Krugman, who cannot begin a column without saying, "As I warned the world in my last column..."--a highly favorable Op-Ed about McCain, taking Rush Limbaugh and the others in the Right Wing Sanhedrin to task for going after McCain for being insufficiently conservative. I don't--still--doubt that McCain's instincts remain fundamentally conservative. But the problem is otherwise.
McCain rose to power on his personality and biography. He was authentic. He spoke truth to power. He told the media they were "jerks" (a sure sign of authenticity, to say nothing of good taste; we are jerks). He was real. He was unconventional. He embraced former anti-war leaders. He brought resolution to the awful missing-POW business. He brought about normalization with Vietnam--his former torturers! Yes, he erred in accepting plane rides and vacations from Charles Keating, but then, having been cleared on technicalities, groveled in apology before the nation. He told me across a lunch table, "The Keating business was much worse than my five and a half years in Hanoi, because I at least walked away from that with my honor." Your heart went out to the guy. I thought at the time, God, this guy should be president someday.
A year ago, when everyone, including the man I'm about to endorse, was caterwauling to get out of Iraq on the next available flight, John McCain, practically alone, said no, no--bad move. Surge. It seemed a suicidal position to take, an act of political bravery of the kind you don't see a whole lot of anymore.
But that was--sigh--then. John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-1994, "We came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us." This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget "by the end of my first term." Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?
All this is genuinely saddening, and for the country is perhaps even tragic, for America ought, really, to be governed by men like John McCain--who have spent their entire lives in its service, even willing to give the last full measure of their devotion to it. If he goes out losing ugly, it will be beyond tragic, graffiti on a marble bust.
Of Obama, he says:
As for Senator Obama: He has exhibited throughout a "first-class temperament," pace Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.'s famous comment about FDR. As for his intellect, well, he's a Harvard man, though that's sure as heck no guarantee of anything, these days. Vietnam was brought to you by Harvard and (one or two) Yale men. As for our current adventure in Mesopotamia, consider this lustrous alumni roster. Bush 43: Yale. Rumsfeld: Princeton. Paul Bremer: Yale and Harvard. What do they all have in common? Andover! The best and the brightest.
I've read Obama's books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. He is also a lefty. I am not. I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I'm libertarian. I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P.J. O'Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.
But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren't going to get us out of this pit we've dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of the DNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he will almost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmy summer zephyr.
Obama has in him--I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy "We are the people we have been waiting for" silly rhetoric--the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for.
So, I wish him all the best. We are all in this together. Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship. And so, for the first time in my life, I'll be pulling the Democratic lever in November. As the saying goes, God save the United States of America.
Cue the harpsichord.
(Hat tip to commenter "dt")
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Comments
I can't wait for the truth to come out about Obama. He will destroy this country.
Posted by: T.Jones | October 11, 2008 9:23 AM
I commend his honesty in assessing what has been happening with McCain. And his courage in stating what seems self-evident regarding Obama. Probably wasn't the easiest thing he ever wrote...
Posted by: LynneB | October 11, 2008 9:26 AM
Thank you Mr. Buckley, for a simple, direct statement without animosity or hyperbole.
We are faced with unprecedented challenges and incredible opportunities. This is not the time to run to our corners and raise our defenses. We must boldly reach out to all around us for cooperation and unity.
Whoever wins this election will face the most difficult agenda any new President has faced since WWII. This is not the time for candidates to poison the well they drink from.
Posted by: Joe Bachofen | October 11, 2008 9:30 AM
Sen.McCain was one of the few Republicans I had the highest regard for, and when he got the nomination, I thought - Thank God! Now we do not have to worry what havoc a Republican administration will wreak, because now, they have McCain as their leader, and he is a true leader and would be a good president.
and then, since August, in some bizarre Jekyll and Hyde political drama, shifting shape and story, swinging from one end to the other - we have seen his campaign stumble and lurch from one bad decision to another.
I think this is because Mr.McCain gave up control of his campaign to those same people who ripped and trashed him in 2000. Except now, they are within his campaign, not the opposing Republican (Bush).
It is really sad to see this downfall of a true hero. And even if he does become President, this campaign image is engraved in the minds of his former admirers forever. Unwittingly, he has let loose all the ugliness that stays hidden in American society, and now its out, and all they can do is half heartedly try to stuff it back under the surface. Too little, too late.
This I am sure, was not the kind of glory Sen.McCain envisioned at the last stage of his political career. Neither did we.
Posted by: ann | October 11, 2008 9:36 AM
Ah, the new Republican plot unfolds: Sink the country in debt and war, then elect a democrat and blame it on him because he can not perform. The Republicans will have a touchstone, for generations to come, and say "look at what happened the last time we elected a Democrat! "
Unfortunately, the oposite is true. The country will never forget the $8,000,000,000,000+ debt that the last 4 republican presidents have put us in, and their consistant fiscal irresponsibility.
Posted by: Xcellentform | October 11, 2008 9:44 AM
I MISS Bill Buckley! THERE was a decent, thinking man! Probably the last good Republican left alive, and now he's gone. Truly a loss for our country. Okay, maybe he was a bit oververbose and quirky (both qualities I find endearing) and with some family problems (who has a family without problems?), but still a very decent man. Bless him.
Posted by: Op109 | October 11, 2008 9:52 AM
I can't wait for the truth to come out about Obama. He will destroy this country.
Posted by: T.Jones | October 11, 2008 9:23 AM
Will he destroy it more quickly than Bush and the republican party has.....or a little slower?
Posted by: bill"Hussein" r. | October 11, 2008 10:58 AM
I have never met any Republicans who actually like McCain. His tendancy to vote with the Democrats has made him many enemies in the Republican party. That being said I totally disagree with your article. I was among the Republicans who were either going to sit out this election or vote in protest for Bob Barr because of his stance on so many issues.
Afte McCain nominated Ms Palin as his VP candidate. I immediately decided to support the McCain ticket because I like Palin. She is an authenitc self made person who owes her success to no one but herself. I like many people I know are outraged by the attacks against Palin. My wife and I were faced with the possisbility our son would be born with Downs syndrom. There was no way we could have aborted our son because his disabilities might inconvenience us so I admire Ms. Palins courage to make the morally correct choice concerning her son. You and your elite friends don't understand that attacks on the Palins are attacks against the average American because she is one of us and I find them to be very offensive.
Concerning Obama there is no way I could vote for a person who is either a socialist, Marxist or even an outright communist. Is it a coincidence that all of Obama's friends despise our country and have radical tendancies? Obama must share those feelings or he wouldn't have friends like that.
If you support Obama you can no longer honestly call yourselff a conservative. I don't what you are but you are not one of us. Real conservatives would never support a person who would support actions that would grow government and destroy personal liberty.
Posted by: Daniel Jimison | October 11, 2008 11:06 AM
Buckley is just the latest in a growing list of intelligent Republicans who have concluded that the United States of America can't take four more years. Hopefully, the less intelligent ones will follow along. They've been herded like sheep for the last eight years so maybe there is hope after all.
Posted by: Kenneth Janowski | October 11, 2008 11:20 AM
I guess Christopher didn't have a good conservative upbringing.
Posted by: C.Hussein.Morris | October 11, 2008 11:37 AM
Big deal-
Posted by: LOAM | October 11, 2008 11:44 AM
Tom Jones, you roue you.
"Ruin the country"?
Look around you Tom.
Repuglicans have done a very good job of wrecking it.
As to Buckley, now we know Barack has the Park Avenue vote.
Posted by: ornery | October 11, 2008 12:30 PM
Another perfect example of the soft boiled egg conservative mind at work... plenty of linguistic skill to justify any d*mn position they want... as long as they are in charge! Andover, Princeton, Yale, WTF. WFBuckley was the worst too , what a T*rd.
Posted by: thegwoe | October 11, 2008 1:21 PM
Bill Buckley was the only person who looked like he needed to take a nap that could interview the POTUS.
I wish I could remember when Bob Shrum debated Bill, took his lunch money, floated his yacht and ate his lunch too! It was priceless.
Posted by: Doug Hussein Zook | October 11, 2008 2:45 PM
I can't wait for the truth to come out about Obama. He will destroy this country.
Posted by: T.Jones | October 11, 2008 9:23 AM
_________________________
Not much left to destroy after the last eight years of Shrub.
In the meantime, Wachovia is lending the RNCC millions of $$$, while denying loans to Americans, and taking a major bailout from the socialists in the Whitehouse.
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/10/follow-up-our-investigation-into.asp
Posted by: tried and true American | October 11, 2008 5:53 PM
I have to wonder if those supporting Obama understand the Muslim view. Despite Obama's personal preferences, he is viewed as a Muslim by Islamic countries. If he targets terrorism then he will be perceived as a traitor to his fellow Muslims. If he does not act to conquer terrorism then many will see him as a traitor to the United States. Muslims will view Obama's potential betrayal as a reason to support terrorist actions against the United States. This will give Al Qaida significantly more recruits than they already have. I agree that Obama is a justified contender for the White House. I'm just not sure that the issue concerning his heritage could not eventually turn against him and the United States in a really bad way.
Posted by: Jennifer | October 11, 2008 7:07 PM
Be afraid be very afraid unless you want a socialistic regime in power!
I do not in any fashion advocate violence or inciteful speech but I am afraid of Obama's leadership. He has has several stories about Ayers--just "a guy in the neighborhood", he did know he was a terrorist when they worked together, then he thought he was rehabilitated---from what if he didn't know about Ayers past!!! His record IS the reason and his POOR judgment. 20 years in Rev Wright's church, 13 year close working relationship with Ayers, dishonest loan from Rezko, stated friendship with convicted felon and ex mayor Kwami Kilpatrick, his using US Senate money to travel to Kenya in 2006 to promote his cousin the violent Odinga, his multiple lawsuits against anyone who speaks out, his Truth Squad in MO and his ever changing stories about what he did or did not know or do should terrify everyone of all races who believes in American freedoms. Hired ACORN people solicit fraudulent votes while taking federal funds. WAKE UP AMERICA!
Posted by: Bill | October 11, 2008 9:21 PM
To Jennifer:
Numerous Muslim clerics have been asked about the claim you make: they counter that you and others who make it don't know enough about Islam to be making any claims about what "what the Muslim world" believes. But you don't have to take my word for this--I'm not being paid credit points by the McCain camp to smear Obama and scare Americans into voting for a candidate that has clearly lost ALL his moral bearings--you and anyone else with a genuine concern about this tired old email myth can try some intellectual honesty and see if you can discover the facts for yourself. Start with the leading Muslim scholars and clerics in the US. Presumably these people actually know what their religion holds forth on this matter.Daisy Khan wrote about this issue for Newsweek's "On Faith". Juan Cole also wrote a carefully documented article about this on his Informed Consent blog.
Jees...the country's falling down around us and this tired old hackery is the best you've got?
Posted by: ireneinmass | October 11, 2008 10:11 PM
The economy is everything on people's minds. People have come to me as gas prices have soared to the record highs. And I have seen the housing markets drop everywhere. But as history will show us, all great growths have their recessions. Without those recessions, we cannot grow explosively, or perhaps, not at all.
However, we have a new crisis on our hands much greater than a few people losing jobs and a pointless war going on (which I hope we will just finish already, whether we pursue or evacuate). We have a global energy crisis. Even if Obama sticks $500 into everyone's poicket for "relief." Those peanuts are not going to help us fix the real problem that's going on here: an eneregy crisis which needs to be dealt with appropriately.
The economy crisis is a direct effect of the world running out of energy. We have taken for granted the large supply of energy we have to harvest on. The unfortunate reality is the fuel we have been burning for energy took millions of years to collect from dead living things, and we've used up over half of it in only 100 years. That is hitting our pocket. And us being stubborn, sticking to fossil fuels is causing us to hit a decline. This is no longer about what the government is doing to give people jobs to work. We need to save the world's energy sources which will save our economy.
We've hit peak production of fossil fuels. My Thermodynamics book warned me of this that it could be as early as 2010. The writer wasn't kidding. We're seeing it already. The problem isn't when we run out, it's when our supply decreases in production. Prices jack up and everyone flops on their face.
What we need is to jump on the renewable fuels soon. But we need to save our fossil fuels as a backup. We need to adopt a chain of nuclear power plants to replace the fossils. This would be the best way to get rid of the coal burning plants. Keep coal around for when we really need it. We have nuclear ability, why aren't we using it? It's clean. It's efficient. And best of all, MUCH more powerful.
Once the nuclear power is established, and coal plants torn down, we can then move onto hydro dams. Rivers are the ultimate source of free energy. Next up is wind power. And then the alt energy sources all go down-hill from there. I would grab onto the ocean waves power if off the shore. This is a neat way to take energy from the moon. Yes, waves our powered by the moon. But all the other junk:
Solar: should only be used for portable applications such as going into space. Not efficient enough, takes up too much space, and unreliable. Not to mention it requires too many materials.
Geothermal: plain and simply sucks. It will take too much research to make it worth anything. And it will never power anything big.
So this is a basic outline of what we need to do. And how will it happen? I'm doubting Obama is going to just start stacking our nation with nuclear energy. He's going to try and jump into the renewable energies too quickly, costing us higher bills in paying for all the coal we're burning during the process and polluting the world. Like I said, renewable need to comes after nuclear. Renewable energies on their own are not powerful enough to just take over everything. We need consistent energy first.
Mccain will give us the building blocks to push into the clean energy sources. He's definitely set on nuclear power and he is very right to want to. I really hope he'll win the vote this election so we can approach this the right way.
Energy is the world's greatest problem right now. You can cry about economy all you want. But it's energy sources which are our concern. We're running out, and we need to act NOW. Fix the energy crisis now, and the economy fixes right along with it.
Posted by: Brian Duda | October 11, 2008 10:32 PM
THANK YOU MR BUCKLEY for a wise observation. I applaud your honesty. As for the post on Palin and her baby I ask you this...wouldn't it be nice for this special child to have his mother? How about a teenager of 17 who will be raising a child. Sarah Palin had no right to accept the VP position right now...maybe 8 yrs from now but 4 months after giving birth? She also has other little ones. Sorry but it was selfish on her part and McCain was irresponsible to offer it. National Security is what he says he cares about...I think NOT! Obama will lead us into the NEW WORLD...the 21st Century. Where we use COMPUTERS!
Posted by: Laura | October 11, 2008 11:14 PM
THANK YOU MR BUCKLEY for a wise observation. I applaud your honesty. As for the post on Palin and her baby I ask you this...wouldn't it be nice for this special child to have his mother? How about a teenager of 17 who will be raising a child. Sarah Palin had no right to accept the VP position right now...maybe 8 yrs from now but 4 months after giving birth? She also has other little ones. Sorry but it was selfish on her part and McCain was irresponsible to offer it. National Security is what he says he cares about...I think NOT! Obama will lead us into the NEW WORLD...the 21st Century. Where we use COMPUTERS!
Posted by: Laura | October 11, 2008 11:15 PM
Instead of worrying about Palin having to replace McCain, you should worry about Biden having to replace Obama. Based on his mistakes in the debate, he doesn't know what's happened in the past or what's in the Constitution. Biden said, "Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time, and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years." It turns out that Katie's restaurant, where Biden gets his feel for the average American, closed 20 years ago. Biden said about Hezbollah: "When we kicked -- along with France -- we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon." Hezbollah was never kicked out of Lebanon. He continued: "I said and Barack said, 'Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don't, Hezbollah will control it.'" Lebanon is not a NATO country, nor had any NATO country been attacked by Lebanon. Biden also denied that Obama ever said he would sit down with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There are clips all over the Internet of Obama saying exactly that during the CNN/YouTube debate last year. Biden also gave a long speech at the debate on vice president Dick Cheney's "dangerous" belief that "he's part of the legislative branch." Article I says the vice president is president of one of the two houses of Congress. It's even more dangerous for the country if Obama is elected. He will leave Iraq and all our efforts there will be lost; and, with the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, he will be able to get his liberal agenda through without any opposition. You need to think again before voting.
Posted by: Ann Lee Bussey | October 12, 2008 12:42 AM
Oh Mr. Buckley! I once worked for your family's company - Catawba - in New York. Your response to McCain's mess is astonishing. Why, though, do you not seek to take back the party from Rove et al? Why do you desert in the critical hour? Rally the powerful and take it back for the rest of us. I'm sad to say, but I too decided for Obama. A lifelong Republican too insulted to stay, reluctant to go.
Posted by: Joan | October 12, 2008 1:10 AM
Daniel: Do you also go along with the great Ms. Palin being protected against WITCHES by a weird preacher from Kenya...NOT ME!!!!!
Posted by: MDawson | October 12, 2008 10:29 AM
Jennifer: Obama has consistently informed the world of his religious beliefs: HE IS A CHRISTIAN!!!!! DON'T YOU THINK THE WHOLE WORLD HAS ACCESS TO THIS INFO???? THE REST OF THE WORLD IS READY FOR OBAMA BECAUSE THEY ARE TIRED OF DEALING WITH A BULLY!!! DO YOU THINK WE'D STILL BE IN IRAQ IF IT WAS LOCATED IN A DESERT???
Posted by: MDawson | October 12, 2008 10:34 AM
It's even more dangerous for the country if Obama is elected. He will leave Iraq and all our efforts there will be lost; and, with the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, he will be able to get his liberal agenda through without any opposition. You need to think again before voting.
Posted by: Ann Lee Bussey | October 12, 2008 12:42 AM
You should have thought of that when you guys elected Bush twice. He got us INTO Iraq, and Republicans had 12 years of pushing their agendas through Congress without opposition (they also managed to keep bills OUT of congress, btw, when said bills OPPOSED their agenda). The danger of having Republicans in control is PROVEN. Come back again when all the people who are calling the shots for you guys have passed over to the Great RNC Convention In the Sky and we'll talk.
Posted by: Op109 | October 12, 2008 12:05 PM
MDawson, As mentioned in my statement, it does not matter what Mr. Obama believes. You may want to re-read my post....
Posted by: Jennifer | October 12, 2008 2:40 PM
Ireneinmass, it isn't a crime for me to pay attention to the information I receive from credible specialists. Kindly spare me your arrogant belief that you are, in any way, in a position to judge what is tired old hackery and what isn't... especially when you obviously incapable of asking a person about their sources. Best regards,
Posted by: Jennifer | October 12, 2008 3:04 PM
Reading those comments from folks that have been so brainwashed as to believe that Obama is a Muslim is just exactly what is happening to Americans who can't take the time to look up and research information so that they do not take whatever is said from either camp and find out how true as statement it may be.
I suspect you choose to want to believe that Obama is a Muslim, that way you will feel rightous in not voting for him when deep down inside its may well be more about a quiet racism you just can't admit to..It's the same garbage you were fed and believed obstinately by our last administration when they said i9/11 was caused by the Iraq goverment and that is why we needed to invade..and you believed it, contrary to everythig that was written and spoken about. It is the like of folks like Jennifer, that make me fear for this country. Those who choose not to think, but to believe whatever they wish to believe. As for Iraq, you heard it here..I don't think we will ever really see "victory" in Iraq..and anyway, exactly what does victory look like..what does it mean. I don't think McCain can possibly believe we will win in Iraq..it is not do-able. pure and simple. And one last thing..being an authentic person does not make you qualified to lead a country in the face of the huge challanges that face it. Think about that. Just ask yourself this one question..As an authenic person, an everyperson, maybe with a special needs child, and probably a parent and hopefully a job and a mortgage you ca pay..are you ready to lead this country? If you say so without question, you are grave injustice to our country. Just because you are authentic (aren't we all?) doesn't make one a leader,,and I have my doubts about the authenticity of Sarah Palin..I think she was pushed on the scene to delight and captivate some folks and they are using her as a puppet who is talented enough to know how work a script, but not very talented to
talk coherently about anything off the cuff.I wouldn't be happy to have her as the head of the town council--and if you think we have suffered for 8 years, you ain't seen nothing yet,yvetteinapanic
Posted by: Yvette Baeu | October 12, 2008 4:12 PM