Douglas Kmiec, former legal adviser to Romney and Constitutional Scholar Endorses Obama

[powergirl]

I am an Obama supporter. Let's get that out of the way. This man is a conservative legal scholar who formally endorses Obama and admittedly disagrees with Obama on social issues - but wants to endorse him because of his strength of character. It appears he is willing to risk stacking the Supreme Court with liberals to support Obama. His over-riding concern is that of Human Rights. I find this commendable. I'm sure I'll get yelled at for this post. I want a liberal Supreme Court and I want to save Roe v. Wade.

But this appears to me, a thoughtful endorsement from a person of intelligence.


Endorsing Obama

"Today I endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. I believe him to be a person of integrity, intelligence and genuine good will. I take him at his word that he wants to move the nation beyond its religious and racial divides and to return United States to that company of nations committed to human rights. I do not know if his earlier life experience is sufficient for the challenges of the presidency that lie ahead. I doubt we know this about any of the men or women we might select. It likely depends upon the serendipity of the events that cannot be foreseen. I do have confidence that the Senator will cast his net widely in search of men and women of diverse, open-minded views and of superior intellectual qualities to assist him in the wide range of responsibilities that he must superintend.

"This endorsement may be of little note or consequence, except perhaps that it comes from an unlikely source: namely, a former constitutional legal counsel to two Republican presidents. The endorsement will likely supply no strategic advantage equivalent to that represented by the very helpful accolades the Senator has received from many of high stature and accomplishment, including most recently, from Governor Bill Richardson. Nevertheless, it is important to be said publicly in a public forum in order that it be understood. It is not arrived at without careful thought and some difficulty.

"As a Republican, I strongly wish to preserve traditional marriage not as a suspicion or denigration of my homosexual friends, but as recognition of the significance of the procreative family as a building block of society. As a Republican, and as a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception, and it is important for every life to be given sustenance and encouragement. As a Republican, I strongly believe that the Supreme Court of the United States must be fully dedicated to the rule of law, and to the employ of a consistent method of interpretation that keeps the Court within its limited judicial role. As a Republican, I believe problems are best resolved closest to their source and that we should never arrogate to a higher level of government that which can be more effectively and efficiently resolved below. As a Republican, and the constitutional lawyer, I believe religious freedom does not mean religious separation or mindless exclusion from the public square.

"In various ways, Senator Barack Obama and I may disagree on aspects of these important fundamentals, but I am convinced based upon his public pronouncements and his personal writing that on each of these questions he is not closed to understanding opposing points of view, and as best as it is humanly possible, he will respect and accommodate them.

"No doubt some of my friends will see this as a matter of party or intellectual treachery. I regret that and I respect their disagreement. But they will readily agree that as Republicans, we are first Americans. As Americans, we must voice our concerns for the well-being of our nation without partisanship when decisions that have been made endanger the body politic. Our president has involved our nation in a military engagement without sufficient justification or clear objective. In so doing, he has incurred both tragic loss of life and extraordinary debt jeopardizing the economy and the well-being of the average American citizen. In pursuit of these fatally flawed purposes, the office of the presidency, which it was once my privilege to defend in public office formally, has been distorted beyond its constitutional assignment. Today, I do no more than raise the defense of that important office anew, but as private citizen.

"9/11 and the radical Islamic ideology that it represents is a continuing threat to our safety and the next president must have the honesty to recognize that it, as author Paul Berman has written, "draws on totalitarian inspirations from 20th-century Europe and with its double roots, religious and modern, perversely intertwined. . . .wields a lot more power, intellectually speaking, then naïve observers might suppose." Senator Obama needs to address this extremist movement with the same clarity and honesty with which he has addressed the topic of race in America. Effective criticism of the incumbent for diverting us from this task is a good start, but it is incomplete without a forthright outline of a commitment to undertake, with international partners, the formation of a world-wide entity that will track, detain, prosecute, convict, punish, and thereby, stem radical Islam's threat to civil order. I await Senator Obama's more extended thinking upon this vital subject, as he accepts the nomination of his party and engages Senator McCain in the general campaign discussion to come."

Published Sunday, March 23, 2008 9:18 AM by Doug Kmiec
Filed under: Iraq, John McCain, Douglas W. Kmiec, Barack Obama, OLC, 9/11 plotters, speech, Roe, abortion, terrorism, rule of law
About Doug Kmiec
Douglas W. Kmiec is Caruso Family Chair and Professor of Constitutional Law, Pepperdine University. He served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel (U.S. Assistant Attorney General) for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Former Dean of the law school at The Catholic University of America, Professor Kmiec was a member of the law faculty for nearly two decades at the University of Notre Dame.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/convictions/archive/2008/03/23/endorsing-obama.aspx





:patriot:

[babylonsister]

1. I won't yell at you; thanks for finding this! Great endorsement because

he's a conservative, and he recognizes quality!

[movonne]

4. There might be a few left....

[woolldog]

2. love it. thanks

:toast:

[rug]

3. Charming.

"He served as head of the Office of Legal Counsel (U.S. Assistant Attorney General) for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, a position previously held by U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia in the Nixon and Ford administrations."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Kmiec

[dansolo]

6. Did you even read the endorsement?

[rug]

8. I did. I even smelled it.

[powergirl]

7. I know, I included all of that information at the end of the post

I'm not concealing his affiliation. I laid it all out. And Pepperdine is where Ken Starr works. So, he is incurring the wrath of the Republicans for this one. It's interesting to me that even he cannot stand anymore of the war. Maybe that will get other people to examine the tragedy and cost of the war and vote Democratic.

[Cha]

5. Obama brings out the

integrity of those who have it, no matter what their affiliation. Thanks for this, powergirl.

[krkaufman]

16. And, similarly, helps to highlight those lacking it, as well.

(see %s of HC Democratic supporters saying they'll vote Rethug if Obama is the nominee)

[pscot]

9. Now is the time

for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Obama will need all the help he can get.

[powergirl]

10. Well said, pscot -

I got goose bumps. Now is the time, indeed.

:toast:

[TheDoorbellRang]

11. Now THIS is the type of Republican I remember

But they will readily agree that as Republicans, we are first Americans. As Americans, we must voice our concerns for the well-being of our nation without partisanship when decisions that have been made endanger the body politic.

There are a whole lot of Republicans out there who are not happy at all about the depths to which that party has sunk. Douglas Kmiec is one of many who are just as appalled at what this administration has done as we are. It will be interesting to see what happens in November with these disenchanted Republicans.

[housewolf]

12. Impressive!

Thanks for posting.

[Voice for Peace]

13. Thanks, this is great for sending to some people I know who are considering

supporting Obama but need a little more confidence in him.

[Coexist]

14. in what area? He has endorsements from everywhere.

maybe we can help.

[Voice for Peace]

15. In the area of being too socialist.

[Coexist]

18. Volcker endorsed him

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/obama-gets-huge-_b_84706.html

and many others

http://sciencesense-eyesopen.blogspot.com/2008/02/running-list-of-obama-endorsements.html

[Voice for Peace]

20. Thanks very much!

I will add you to my buddylist so I'll remember to consult you when I need
some help with this sort of thing.

[Coexist]

21. I'm always happy to help out!

[powergirl]

17. This has been helping me here in Dallas, Texas

Super red around here. But even here, they want something different. And essays like this have helped me persuade a lot of Republicans - mostly women in my case - to vote for Obama. And once they got on the train, they became really involved in the Democratic party. They want to be delegates in the national convention. I am hoping this will make the Democrats the real majority party again.

[puebloknot]

19. Heartwarming, except...

...I find references to solving problems closer to the source to possibly be code for defeating Roe v. Wade at the state level.

This man believes that life begins at conception, and that "on each of these questions he (Obama) is not closed to understanding opposing points of view, and as best as it is humanly possible, he will respect and accommodate them."

I don't want Obama to be guilty of intellectual and political treachery in his becoming too close to religious elements of all stripes.

I grew up with the Pepperdine crowd. They are good people who would *always* honor their church teachings before they would adhere to the rule of constitutional law in America -- if they were put to that test! "Render unto Caesar" used to mean a lot more to them than it does now. In the past, they quietly went their own way, and did not meddle in government. That's all changed, and Ken Starr's performance in the Clinton/Monica matter still speaks volumes.

"I believe religious freedom does not mean religious separation or mindless exclusion from the public square." This brings to mind a scene from the first segment of "John Adams," now airing on HBO, in which a discussion of the language of the Declaration of Independence was altered from something to do with "sacred principles," to the more generic "We hold these truths to be self-evident." Benjamin Franklin was quite aware of the need to keep the clergy *out* of the affairs of government. That is a major underlying theme in the creation of this nation, and watering down the separation of church and state has reared its ugly head, and all we need to do is look around us to see the results of "faith-based" governance over the last seven years.

Republicans are hard-put to find a candidate they can support, given the egg on their faces for their support of Bush, et al. It gives me pause to wonder what compromises Obama is willing to make to court the favor of these disaffected Republicans.

Thanks for posting the article. Good information. I'm not yelling at you! Open dialogue is of the essence of this country's survival!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

22. That's awesome! Maybe this will lead him to come over from the "dark side".

His antediluvean views on marriage need to be reformed, right off the bat.

[keopeli]

23. I know Doug Kmiec. I graduated from Pepperdine. THIS is the Doug that I know, and I say BRAVO!

You can't imagine how painful it has been to watch Doug on TV for years defending Bush and the Republics. A kind and thoughtful man in person, Doug always captured my attention with his thoughts, even when I vehemently disagreed.

Over the past decade, I've watched him on TV and heard a voice that was unfamiliar. He seemed to be towing the party line without exercising his own personal judgment and reasoning. I have cried and distanced myself from my conservative friends like Doug, whom I once embraced because of their genuine kindness and caring for others less fortunate than they (a LOT less fortunate, I might add) and their true desire to openly debate in an effort to find the real truth. I wonder what happened to the attitude we once shared: that even when convinced we are right, we acknowledge that we might be wrong and value the opinions of others.

I read this endorsement as a harbinger of hope. Perhaps what Obama has been advocating, the unification of our country under the common hope for the best future possible where we can all celebrate our diverse points of view and thrive in an environment that welcomes both debate and reconciliation, is actually taking root among true conservatives (not neocons).

I must give props to Doug for his brave honesty and a return to his former principles that lately took a back seat in an atmosphere of fear, division, hatefulness and blind servitude. I have to admit that I remain skeptical, based on an abundance of poor (even catastrophic) choices over the past several years. But, I am hopeful that, in his surprising support for Obama, we may be seeing a return of rational discourse in this country over what world we are leaving for our children.

peace