Short and sweet. PBO has been endorsed recently by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania's largest daily newspaper, AND the Winston-Salem Journal of North Carolina. What makes this even more interesting is that Winston-Salem endorsed John McCain in 2008!
According to the Winston-Salem editorial:
Four years ago on this page, we endorsed Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona over Obama. We wrote that we were impressed with Obama, but McCain would “bring the Iraq war to a successful conclusion, work to end American dependence on foreign oil, reduce America's output of climate-changing gases and begin the rebuilding of our economy.”
The Democratic president has done all those things and more. He is calm under pressure and courageous in standing up for the rights of all Americans, including the poor, veterans, the elderly, women, gays and immigrants. In contrast, we’ve sometimes found it hard in the last few weeks to tell just what Obama’s challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, really stands for.
http://www2.journalnow.com/...
According to Wikipedia:
The Winston-Salem Journal is a daily newspaper primarily serving the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and its county, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also features coverage of Northwestern North Carolina and circulates as far west as Tennessee and north to Virginia.
The last time the Journal endorsed a Democratic party candidate for President was in 1964 (Lyndon Johnson).
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Both endorsements come with substantive descriptions of our President's solid record over the past 3.5 years, as well as stark contrasts between the fundamentally different visions that the two candidates have for this country.
In addition, the Philadelphia Inquirer which endorsed then Senator Obama in 2008, wastes no time in calling out the extreme and unprecedented Republican obstructionism that the MSM has simply refused to address.
The recovery is slow, but its speed has been hampered by obstinate Republicans in Congress dead set on opposing any program that might boost Obama's reelection. They say they can't be blamed for Obama's lack of success earlier in his administration, when Democrats held the House and Senate. But Americans need to remember that Congress' rules give great power to the minority party to thwart legislation.
http://www.philly.com/...
UPDATE: I've added a 3rd endorsement from the Sacramento Bee (thanks bookwoman), the fifth largest CA newspaper. According to the Bee,
Voters often say they want their elected leaders to keep their promises and, at crucial moments, show real political backbone. President Barack Obama deserves a second term largely because he has delivered on both of these fronts...
... Obama – unruffled by Looney Tunes claims that he is a "socialist" and a "Marxist" – has pursued a consistent, moderate path that has pulled this country back from the brink and put it on a path toward recovery. In a second term, with just a little help from Congress, he could finish the job and pursue other priorities, including upgrading transportation infrastructure, reinvesting in higher education and making the United States a leader in clean energy technologies.
By contrast, Romney has been all over the map on climate change, health care reform and fiscal policy, and he seems determined to lead us into a costly war in Iran, regardless of the consequences. We've seen this script before. We don't want it again. We'd urge you to return President Obama to the White House for a second term.
Read more here:
http://www.sacbee.com/...
UPDATE X2:
The Republican-leaning Nebraska's Lincoln Journal Star today has given the thumbs up this year for President Obama. (Thanks PorridgeGun!) Keep in mind that this publication endorsed Bush in 00/04 and McCain in 08 and other GOP candidates.
It's interesting that many of these publication editorials have highlighted Romney's constant shifting of positions (AKA Flip-flopping), and the Journal Star is no exception:
Republican nominee Mitt Romney at times makes us optimistic that he would do a creditable job as president. But he changes positions on issues so frequently we’re uncertain what he actually would do in office.
Obama has been tested and found equal to the task of being president. We think the country is in better shape than it was four years ago, and we think it will be in even better shape if he wins another term in office.
http://journalstar.com/...