Washington Post endorses Obama as 'right man' for hard times

Washington, Oct 17 (DPA) Calling senator Barack Obama the 'right man for a perilous moment,' the Washington Post Friday endorsed the Democratic candidate for the US presidency.

With the endorsement, the paper added its national weight to 39 other regional newspapers - including the Boston Globe and St Louis Post Dispatch - that have declared for the centre-left candidate.

'The nominating process this year produced two unusually talented and qualified presidential candidates,' the Post wrote, saying there were few public figures 'we have respected more over the years' than centre-right Republican senator John McCain.

'Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse' Obama for president, the Post said.

The newspaper criticized McCain's 'disappointing campaign' and 'irresponsible selection of a running mate' - Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin - 'who is not ready to be president.'

The Post conceded it had 'reservations' about Obama's 'relatively brief experience in national politics.'

'But we also have enormous hopes,' the Post wrote.

The editorial praised Obama's 'nuanced grasp of complex issues' and his skill at consensus-building.

It said it believed Obama would respond to the economic crisis 'with a healthy respect for markets tempered by justified dismay over rising inequality and an understanding of the need for focused regulation.'

The Post said it was confident Obama would maintain US leadership and engagement abroad, 'continue the fight against terrorists, and wage vigorous diplomacy on behalf of US values and interests.'

'Mr Obama has the potential to become a great president,' the Post wrote.

'Given the enormous problems he would confront from his first day in office, and the damage wrought over the past eight years, we would settle for very good.'

McCain, who is lagging in the polls behind Obama, has received endorsements from 15 newspapers with 1.5 million readership, according to the industry magazine Editor and Publisher.

The 39 newspapers which had endorsed Obama before Friday represented 3.5 million readers.