Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The latest major conservative to endorse Obama: Francis Fukuyama, author of The End of History, third generation Straussian, student of Allan Bloom and colleague of Harvey Mansfield, William Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz. He writes in the American Conservative:
I'm voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don't work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.McCain's appeal was always that he could think for himself, but as the campaign has progressed, he has seemed simply erratic and hotheaded. His choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate was highly irresponsible; we have suffered under the current president who entered office without much knowledge of the world and was easily captured by the wrong advisers. McCain's lurching from Reaganite free- marketer to populist tribune makes one wonder whether he has any underlying principles at all.
America has been living in a dream world for the past few years, losing its basic values of thrift and prudence and living far beyond its means, even as it has lectured the rest of the world to follow its model. At a time when the U.S. government has just nationalized a good part of the banking sector, we need to rethink a lot of the Reaganite verities of the past generation regarding taxes and regulation. Important as they were back in the 1980s and '90s, they just won't cut it for the period we are now entering. Obama is much better positioned to reinvent the American model and will certainly present a very different and more positive face of America to the rest of the world.
Politics
Comments
Smart guy, but why wait until now? Well, at least he brings the bloc of neo-Platonist philosophy grad students with him. I understand three of them are registered to vote.
Posted by: kehrsam | October 31, 2008 9:55 AM
With serious conservatives backing out in droves, the McCain campaign doesn't have anyone left to make their case. Here's an example of using the wrong messenger:
Palin: Obama incapable of handling security tests
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | October 31, 2008 10:10 AM
I'm sorry, but the name "Fukuyama" is making me giggle and I can't read the rest of the post because I just ... end up in a fit of giggles.
Posted by: marilove | October 31, 2008 10:24 AM
Ouch. That's going to leave a mark.
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT, OM | October 31, 2008 10:30 AM
It was bad enough that he [Bush] launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don't work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.
Huh. So many of the other anti-McCain conservatives seem to think McCain's biggest problem was his choice of running mate, as if the past Republican policies were pretty much alright. It's nice to see someone come out against McCain based on more substantive policy issues.
Posted by: Chiroptera | October 31, 2008 10:44 AM
I've wondered the same about a lot of the endorsements, but I suspect that part of the reason is that the endorsement has more effect the closer it is to election day.
BTW, I read "The End of History and the Last Man" many years ago and found it stimulating reading. However, his conclusion that history was no longer circular now that all the world acknowledges 1) the scientific method and 2) the superiority of liberal democracies, has become suspect in in recent years as some societies show an inclination to return to state socialism and where Christian fundamentalists have had some success in ditching the scientific method.
Posted by: Greg Esres | October 31, 2008 10:48 AM
Don't see much evidence of states returning to socialism in Europe, if that's what you mean. Outside the take over of several failing banks in the current crisis, there is no evidence that European countries are any more socialist than it was, say, ten years ago.
Posted by: tacitus | October 31, 2008 10:59 AM
The view from the political science profession is that Fukuyama has a great talent for spotting a trendy concept, reading up on it quickly, then publishing something that--on the surface--sounds impressive.
A few years back his topic for the moment was the combination of evolutionary theory and political science, so based on having a big name he was invited to give the keynote address at the Association for Politics and the Life Sciences. Unfortunately for him, 90% of his audience knew more about the topic than he did, and at times it was all we could do not to laugh out loud.
I'd personally be embarassed to be endorsed by Fukuyama. Then again, the effect on swing voters is likely that they'll wonder why the Japanese emperor is endorsing Obama.
Posted by: James Hanley | October 31, 2008 11:11 AM
Eagleburger delivers a rousing endorsement of Palin
Posted by: Herod the Freemason | October 31, 2008 11:34 AM
Was thinking more of Russia. And I'm not sure when he said "liberal democracy" he mean not-socialistic.
Posted by: Greg Esres | October 31, 2008 11:44 AM
Wow, this has got to hurt. I kind of figure that Fukuyama was going to stay strong in the McCain camp, but instead he's joined Hitchens and Will on this one.
My respect for Fukuyama is much increased.
Posted by: JStein | October 31, 2008 12:09 PM
On my local blog I posted this as Dr. Schmidt, an old german...
"he had very great ideas about how we need to invade other countries to gain a living room.
I also think that this is the right of every great nation!
and if the Polish or the French don't like it well then tough! "
Posted by: Kevin | October 31, 2008 12:16 PM
"It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war..."
Strong words for a signatory to the infamous PNAC letter advocating an invasion of Iraq. Strong, hypocritical words.
Posted by: Joe V. | October 31, 2008 12:16 PM
I'm no fan of Fukuyama, but the fact that he once was in favor of the Iraq War and is now against it is not evidence of hypocrisy. People are sometimes wrong, and people sometimes change their minds.
Posted by: Alex, FCD | October 31, 2008 12:25 PM
Hey, c'mon now people. Ed's Donors Choose challenge is way down the Sb list. How can this be when he clearly has the biggest and most active readership next to Pharyngula? A fiver or a tenner won't hurt much and today is the last day!
/sorry for the off topic, ed
Posted by: Do it for the kids | October 31, 2008 12:49 PM
Herod the Freemason:
Just what we need, an "adequate" VP candidate.
Reminds of one of those comic magic shows you might see at your local Ren Faire - you know, "Zoltar, the Adequate".
Except here it's, "Palin, the Adequate."
Posted by: ZacharySmith | October 31, 2008 1:49 PM
> Smart guy, but why wait until now?
Well, I don't like to put all American's in the same boat (it's a big 'ol country after all) but one think you folks do seem to all have in common is you don't like to lose.
What this means is that as the polls consistently show an Obama landslide what happens is that the conservatives either come out against McCain or go quiet. This has the side-effect of leaving only the vocal loonie fringe to come out in favor of McCain / Palin which hurts their chances even more.
Posted by: David Durant | October 31, 2008 2:09 PM
Hey Francis -- nice about-face to catch the bandwagon! Seriously, I cannot stomach all the pompous pronouncements from these various conservatives who've had some kind of road-to-Damascus epiphany about how terrible a president Bush was -- where the fuck were these principled conservatives when it actually mattered, when his policies could have been changed and disasters, if not avoided, at least mitigated? Oh yeah, they were busy pretending that the religious whackaloons and blinkered ideologues were worth taking seriously. It's great the Fukuyama has given his endorsement, but that in no way redeems him.
"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" You don't think that the nationalization of portions of the financial sector is socialist?
Posted by: Tulse | October 31, 2008 3:38 PM
It's not a question of whether the European bank bailouts are socialist or not, but whether or not the tactic works in its appointed task.
Given that Randian lassaiz-faire has proven inadequate, some combination of incentive capitalism and socialist-style checks and balances seem to be necessary.
Posted by: gary l. day | October 31, 2008 4:53 PM
No, Tulse. It's not socialist to nationalise the losses but not share the profits. At least try to understand what you oppose.
Other than that I agree. The rest of your comment was spot-on.
Posted by: eddie | October 31, 2008 5:39 PM
With all these conservatives jumping on the bandwagon, do you think Chris Buckley might get his job back? Assuming he'd take it, of course.
Posted by: bullet | October 31, 2008 5:40 PM
You know the economy is tits-up when g'n'r release a record.
Posted by: eddie | October 31, 2008 5:44 PM
Greg Esres -
Russia is moving headlong into fascism at the moment, not socialism.
Posted by: DuWayne | November 1, 2008 1:24 AM
I's been kinda busy round here. Y'know, since history... ended. Yes, Greg Esres. Putin is not so much a tzarist as a tsar. He seems to me to be hell bent on having a new cold war. This time, they have the resources and the financial muscle.
A couple of winters ago, he cut off the heating for most of eastern europe. Now other european leaders are scared to stand up to him.
Posted by: eddie | November 2, 2008 12:33 AM
Hmm, if Obama is being endorsed by right-wing phoney "intellectuals", I'm beginning to feel sorry for him. When does he get Samuel Huntington's vote?
Posted by: Christophe Thill | November 3, 2008 4:53 AM