Philly Talk Show Host, Michael A. Smerconish Voting for Obama

It seems the list of thinking Republicans jumping off the sinking McCain/Palin ticket just keeps on growing. In fact, it is becoming difficult to keep track of all the defections. In Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia radio market's premier talk show host, Michael A. Smerconish, announced that he is endorsing Barack Obama. Who is he? He's certainly not a liberal or a Democrat. His blog describes him in part as follows:

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Michael Smerconish is the Philadelphia radio market's premier talk show host. He is heard daily from 5 - 9 a.m. on CBS Radio's The Big Talker 1210 AM, WPHT. . . . Smerconish has often been a guest fill-in host for Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Radio Factor airing nationwide on the Westwood One Radio Network, and he has often been a guest fill-in host for Glenn Beck on the Glenn Beck Program airing on CNN Headline News. . . . He is the author of three books and he writes separate, weekly columns for both the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer.

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What is interesting is the analysis that Smerconish lays out as to why he has decied to vote for a Democrat for the first time since he became a registered Republican. Here are highlights from his column (I recommend that you read his full column):

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I've decided. My conclusion comes after reading the candidates' memoirs and campaign platforms, attending both party conventions, interviewing both men multiple times, and watching all primary and general-election debates.

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John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I'm voting for a Democrat for president. I may have been an appointee in the George H.W. Bush administration, and master of ceremonies for George W. Bush in 2004, but last Saturday I stood amid the crowd at an Obama event in North Philadelphia. Five considerations have moved me:

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Terrorism. The candidates disagree as to where to prosecute the war against Islamic fundamentalists. Barack Obama is correct in saying the front line in that battle is not Iraq, it's the Afghan-Pakistan border. . . .

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Economy. We face economic problems that are incomprehensible to most Americans, certainly they are to me. This is a time to covet intellect, and that begins at the top. Jack Bogle, the legendary founder of the Vanguard Group, told me recently that McCain's assertion that the fundamentals of the economy were "strong" was the "stupidest statement of 2008."

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VP. . . . With two wars and a crumbling economy, Palin is too big of a risk to be a heartbeat away from a presidency held by a 72-year-old man who has battled melanoma. Advantage Joe Biden.

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Opportunity. In a speech delivered on Father's Day, Obama lamented that too many fathers are missing from the lives of too many children and mothers. Look no further than Philadelphia for proof that the nation has a fatherhood problem at the root of its firearms crisis.

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Hope. Wednesday morning will come and an Obama presidency holds the greatest chance for unifying us here at home and restoring our prestige around the globe.