(CNN) – The Washington Post announced in an editorial Thursday their endorsement of President Barack Obama.
The Post, which also endorsed then-Illinois Sen. Obama in 2008, said that while much of the campaign for the White House has “dwelt on the past,” Obama is in a better position to lead in the challenges that lie ahead.
The Washington-based newspaper, whose editorial page leans left, said their endorsement comes recognizing disappointments in Obama’s first term but said the president “is committed to the only approach that can succeed: a balance of entitlement reform and revenue increases.”
The editorial contrasts this with what it said is Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s future – “one in which an ever-greater share of the nation’s wealth resides with the nation’s wealthy, at a time when inequality already is growing.”
The Post notes dissatisfaction that Obama failed to reach a fiscal deal with Congress in 2011, the president’s isolation “inside a tight White House circle” as well as his attitude toward business as an “obstacle rather than a partner.”
However, Obama’s accomplishments are rendered more impressive considering tough economic times and “uncompromising opposition,” the paper wrote.
The editorial points to Obama’s successes – the stimulus plans put in place when he stepped into office in 2009 in overwhelmingly poor economic times; the Chrysler and General Motors auto bailout; and Obama’s signature healthcare imitative, the Affordable Care Act.
The Post said abroad, Obama has had both successes – the killing of Osama bin Laden and support of the popular uprising in Libya – and failures – the lack of involvement in the Syria and “ambivalence regarding Afghanistan.”
Romney, on the other hand, “hardly differs” from Obama on foreign policy and has not made the case for himself as president. The Post wrote, there’s no way to tell how Romney would govern as president, ticking off a series of contradictory stances the Republican candidate has taken while vying for the White House and his time as the governor of Massachusetts.
