REAGAN’S COS JOINS THE OBAMACANS…. If one were to do a poll, and ask voters who Ken Duberstein is, I suspect the number would be rather small. In this sense, the notion of him joining the growing list of Obama-endorsing Republicans would seem to lack a certain political salience.
But the key to this one is Duberstein’s title: Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff.
Former Reagan chief of staff Ken Duberstein told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Friday he intends to vote for Democrat Barack Obama this Tuesday.
So, on the one hand, we have the McCain campaign and its cohorts working assiduously to convince voters that Obama is terrorist-sympathizing Marxist. On the other, we have Obama getting endorsements from Ronald Reagan’s national security advisor, solicitor general, and White House chief of staff.
And Duberstein joins, of course, former Sen. Larry Pressler, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Gov. William Weld, former Gov. Arne Carlson, Charles Fried, Scott McClellan , and Ken Adelman as notable Republicans who’ve announced their support for Obama over the last couple of weeks.
I doubt this will affect the McCain campaign’s smear efforts, but for those paying even a little attention, it’s tough to characterize Obama as a radical leftist when high-profile Republicans — including top officials from Reagan’s White House — keep announcing their support for him.
On a related note, Duberstein was on MSNBC this morning, questioning McCain’s judgment for having chosen Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket. He had one real gem that makes the clip worth watching — he said McDonald’s subjects its employees to more vetting than McCain did for Palin. Ouch.
