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<p class=MsoPlainText><a
href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-top-ten-rea.html#more">http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-top-ten-rea.html#more</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>The Atlantic<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>The Daily Dish<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>Andrew Sullivan<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText>27 Oct 2008 09:33 pm<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>The
Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>My take:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>10. A
body blow to <a
href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/obama-and-the-e.html">racial
identity politics</a>. An end to the era of Jesse Jackson in black America.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>9. Less
debt. Yes, Obama will raise taxes on those earning over a quarter of a million.
And he will spend on healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan and the environment. But so
will McCain. He plans more spending on health, the environment and won't touch
defense of entitlements. And his refusal to touch taxes means an <a
href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/mccains-deficit.html">extra
$4 trillion</a> in debt over the massive increase presided over by Bush. And
the <a
href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/the-death-of-fi.html">CBO
estimates</a> that McCain's plans will add more to the debt over four years
than Obama's. Fiscal conservatives have a clear choice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>8. A
return to realism and prudence in foreign policy. Obama has consistently cited
the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush as his inspiration. McCain's knee-jerk
reaction to the Georgian conflict, his commitment to stay in Iraq indefinitely,
and his brinksmanship over Iran's nuclear ambitions make him a far riskier
choice for conservatives. The choice between Obama and McCain is like the
choice between George H.W. Bush's first term and George W.'s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>7. An
ability to understand the difference between <a
href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/when-obama-met.html">listening
to generals</a> and delegating foreign policy to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>6.
Temperament. Obama has the coolest, <a
href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/the-human-valiu.html">calmest
demeanor</a> of any president since Eisenhower. Conservatism values that kind
of constancy, especially compared with the hot-headed, irrational impulsiveness
of McCain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>5.
Faith. Obama's fusion of Christianity and reason, his <a
href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama">non-fundamentalist faith</a>,
is a critical bridge between the new atheism and the new Christianism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>4. A
truce in the culture war. Obama takes us past the <a
href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama">debilitating boomer warfare</a>
that has raged since the 1960s. Nothing has distorted our politics so gravely;
nothing has made a rational politics more elusive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>3. Two
words: President Palin.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>2.
Conservative reform. Until conservatism can get a distance from the
big-spending, privacy-busting, debt-ridden, crony-laden, fundamentalist,
intolerant, incompetent and arrogant <em><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>faux</span></em>
conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years, it will never regain a coherent message
to actually govern this country again. The survival of conservatism requires a
temporary eclipse of today's Republicanism. Losing would be the best thing to
happen to conservatism since 1964. Back then, conservatives lost in a landslide
for the right reasons. Now, Republicans are losing in a landslide for the wrong
reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>1. The
War Against Islamist terror. The strategy deployed by Bush and Cheney has
failed. It has failed to destroy al Qaeda, except in a country, Iraq, where
their presence was minimal before the US invasion. It has failed to bring any
of the terrorists to justice, instead creating the excrescence of Gitmo,
torture, secret sites, and the collapse of America's reputation abroad. It has
empowered Iran, allowed al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan, made the next vast
generation of Muslims loathe America, and imperiled our alliances. We need
smarter leadership of the war: balancing force with diplomacy, hard power with
better p.r., deploying strategy rather than mere tactics, and self-confidence
rather than a bunker mentality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:150%;background:#E9E9E9'><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Those
conservatives who remain convinced, as I do, that Islamist terror remains the
greatest threat to the West cannot risk a perpetuation of the failed Manichean
worldview of the past eight years, and cannot risk the possibility of McCain
making rash decisions in the middle of a potentially catastrophic global
conflict. If you are serious about the war on terror and believe it is a war we
have to win, the only serious candidate is Barack Obama. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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