Words fail me. I was stunned to read an op-ed piece in the Dallas Morning News yesterday by Christine Allison in which the wife of D magazine publisher Wick Allison said she is going to vote in the Democratic primary for Barack Obama and urges other R’s to do the same. Christine Allison is the president of D Magazine Publishing Partners, and, along with Wick, epitomizes bedrock Dallas Republicans. Allison begins by explaining that she has always been a rebel in her political views, and then writes:
* I’m not going to argue the merits of the prescription drug law introduced by a Republican president and passed by a Republican Congress, except to note that it was the largest expansion of a federal entitlement program in history. Republicans introduced a needed tax cut but then kept it when the nation entered an expensive war. Under Mr. Bush, the federal deficit has climbed $2 trillion. Federal spending has gone out of control …. I began to wonder, if Republicans are going to behave like Democrats, why not take a look at the real thing?
* That’s when I encountered Barack Obama. Mr. Obama was fresh. I began by thinking he was inspirational. I now believe that he is necessary.
* I’m tired of “wedge issues” that seek to divide one small portion of the electorate from another …. Barack Obama embodies a new worldview. He speaks with candor and elegance against the kind of politics that have become so dispiriting – and for the kind of America I would like to see.
If you, too, are a disappointed Republican, I urge you to give Barack Obama a good, hard look before the March 4 primary. I might wince when the primary official stamps “Democrat” on my voting card. But if that’s what it takes to make a fundamental change, I’m ready for it.
