Poet Robert Pinsky On Why He'll Vote Obama

Sen. Barack Obama is my choice 

for reasons that 

(I hope) 

reach further than 

the expectations of my demographic or tribe or herd. 

I admire Obama's quality of balance: 

between attention to details and grasp of ideas; 

or to put that somewhat differently, 

between politics and ideals. 

Beyond that quality of balance, 

he has demonstrated in action 

an impressive ability to keep his balance 

through two challenging, stressful campaigns, 

for nomination and election. 

Like many millions of Americans, I 

have gone from finding Barack Obama inspiring

—I might say "merely inspiring"—

to feeling that he is reliable. 

We need a trustworthy president.

Pinsky was the Poet Laureate of the United States and the current Poetry editor of Slate Magazine. His endorsement (in prose form really, in case you couldn't tell), as well as those of the other staff and contributors of Slate, are now online. My favorite is that of Bill Smee, Executive Producer of Slate V, also for Obama. His endorsement is in haiku form (genuinely):

McCain picked Palin.
Already 72.
Might die in office.