Competency over Ideology

One of the most interesting results of these last weeks of the presidential campaign is the number of Republicans publicly announcing their support of Barack Obama. The right-wing base isn't happy, of course, and some from that base are metaphorically frothing at the mouth, promising ex-communication or defenestration or something like that. An article in the UK Telegraph quotes Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush:

There's going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?

I, however, an American citizen who cares for her country, am encouraged to see these public criticisms turn into public support of Barack Obama. After eight years of disastrous Republican leadership that promised unity yet delivered partisan poison, that touted morals while torturing prisoners of war, that promised prosperity (and lots of happy shopping days) yet delivered a world-wide financial crisis, I'm happy to see real conservatives who are truly trying to put their country first. I don't expect them to abandon their conservative ideals. What I do hope, however, is for a real dialogue in this country rather than the debased tattle of talk radio, the tittle of the 24-hour news cycle, and the malicious stupidity of viral e-mails. And electing another Republican who has tacked far to the right in his choice of vice-presidential running mate and who has not repudiated the mistakes of the recent Bush past is not the way to get that conversation going.

So, yes, I am encouraged when I read Ken Adelman's post on why he, a conservative ideologue, is voting for Barack Obama:

But I've learned over this Bush era to value competence along with ideology.Otherwise, our ideology gets discredited, as it has so disastrously over the past eight years.

McCain's temperament -- leading him to bizarre behavior during the week the economic crisis broke -- and his judgment -- leading him to Wasilla -- depressed me into thinking that "our guy" would be a(nother) lousy conservative president. Been there, done that.

Thank God! While I will probably disagree with many of Adelman's ideals, I can certainly agree with this: the importance of competence in running a country (or anything, for that matter). This is an issue I have written about since I first created my blog, the terrible consequences of incompetence. Of course, one wants a competency linked with values (compassion, mercy, morals) and democratic ideals.

And so Republicans around the country--and traditionally Republican-leaning newspapers--are supporting Barack Obama because they realize that the country needs a true change, not a cosmetic change, a break with partisanship long enough to re-evaluate the directions we've been led the past eight years. Nicholas Kristof writes about the News-Register of McMinnville, Oregon, which has traditionally supported conservative politicians yet which recently came out in support of Barack Obama. The editors of that newspaper bemoan the actions of the Bush-Cheney administration in leading the country into a war in Iraq and in torturing and "spiriting away" prisoners from that war.

And so Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, former supporter of John McCain, and Solicitor General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan, reveals that he voted for Barack Obama by absentee ballot:

I admire Senator McCain and was glad to help in his campaign, and to be listed as doing so; but when I concluded that I must vote for Obama for the reason stated in my letter, I felt it wrong to appear to be recommending to others a vote that I was not prepared to cast myself. So it was more of an erasure than a public affirmation--although obviously my vote meant that I thought that Obama was preferable to McCain-Palin. I do not consider abstention a proper option. (quoted from The Plank, a blog of the staff of The New Republic)

And so Matthew Dowd, chief GOP strategist for President George Bush's reelection. . . . and so Scott McClellan, George Bush's former press secretary. . .And so, well, just read the list on the Republicans for Obama website or read this "Republicans for Obama" article on the CBS website

Will these endorsements sway far-right voters? Of course not (especially not the paranoid and racist). But they give me hope that competence can return to the White House. And maybe remain there no matter which party wins in future elections--or at least as long as principled people demand it.