Vice President Al Gore Sunday won the endorsement of the influential New York Times and other leading papers in his race for the presidency against Texas Governor George W Bush.
"We today firmly endorse Al Gore as the man best equipped for the presidency by virtue of his knowledge of government, his experience at the top levels of federal and diplomatic decision-making, and his devotion to the general welfare," The New York Times wrote.
The paper's editorial board said Gore had "struggled impressively and successfully to escape the shadow of the Clinton administration's ethical lapses."
The Times said Republican candidate George W. Bush's resume was too "thin" for the US to "bet on his growing into the kind of leader he claims already to be."
Gore, the Times said "will not need on-the-job training."
"Mr. Bush's main professional experience was running a baseball team financed by friends and serving for six years as governor in a state where the chief executive has limited budgetary and operational powers," the Times said.
The Times said Gore had more foreign policy experience and "understands that in order to influence the allies an American president must lead from the front."
"He has already been eye to eye with the world's leaders," the Times said.
The Times criticized Bush's "uneasiness with foreign policy" that the paper said "cannot be erased by his promise to have heavyweight advisers."
"The job description is for commander in chief, not advisee in chief," the paper said.
Gore was also endorsed by the Denver Post, which said "Gore's leadership plan far outshines the Bush proposals."
Last week, The Washington Post also endorsed Gore in his race against Texas Governor Bush, calling him the "better qualified candidate" for the position.
"Mr. Gore is surely among the best prepared and most intelligent nominees of recent years, with a distinguished record of sensible internationalism and moderate domestic liberalism," the paper wrote in a Sunday editorial.
The Post argued that "Mr. Bush has done little to demonstrate ... that he himself has any feel for or particular interest in the world," and that all signs of his potential for leadership on an international level "point to a crabbed, tentative, narrow view of US interests and US leadership." – WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
