Ottumwa Courier endorses Obama

The Ottumwa Courier of Iowa gave its endorsement today to Barack Obama:

But Iowa Democrats have a real choice next month and there is one politician who we believe will not only create change, he’ll inspire others to do the same.

Barack Obama has earned our support in the Iowa caucuses.

Americans clamor for change. And every election cycle, a candidate or several candidates will offer his/her ideas on how they would change the course of American governance.

“I think this is a ‘change’ election,” he told the Courier editorial board. “Change is more than just changing political parties. The culture of politics in Washington has to change. And to change it, you’ve got to get the American people involved.”

On domestic issues, Obama insists that government has to be transparent, whether it’s environmental issues, the economy or education. Open the books, he said, and let the Americans see firsthand the steps that have to be taken in order to make life better for all its citizens.

He said Washington has a responsibility to create programs that have the necessary funding so that local and state governments are not swimming in a sea of red.

“When the federal government is not fulfilling its requirements … that is putting a burden on local governments and state governments to raise property taxes or sewer rates or what have you. That disproportionately impacts people on fixed incomes,” he said.

On the war in Iraq, Obama has been consistent about his opposition to the war and his desire to move troops out as soon as possible.

Iraq is just one issue, of course, that will be part of the next president’s foreign policy agenda.

Arguments, however, have been made that Obama is inexperienced and does not have the foreign policy credentials to sit in the Oval Office. But the senator is clear that experience need not be “Washington experience.”

He points to his work as a community and civil rights activist and his time in the Illinois State Senate.

Obama suggests that there is a tendency not to count state and local work as real-world experience. However, much of his time doing that work has meant working across the aisle and getting things done.

Obama knows he must surround himself with people who will help him move the country down a prosperous path.

“I trust my judgment but I don’t presume to know everything,” he said, adding he will surrounded himself with qualified people.

And he promises his cabinet members will always know that “your job is not to protect me. Your job is to protect the Constitution and to be an advocate for the American people.”

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