Welcome aboard!

--The Economist (10/25-31/2008)

The Obama campaign is proving attractive to a number of conservative intellectuals: disillusioned Republicans who are fed up with Bush and find Obama's "pragmatism, competence and respect for the head rather than the heart" to be congenial. So reports "Lexington," The Economist's commentator on American affairs, in this week's issue:

For many conservatives, Mr Obama embodies qualities that their party has abandoned: pragmatism, competence and respect for the head rather than the heart. Mr Obama’s calm and collected response to the turmoil on Wall Street contrasted sharply with Mr McCain’s grandstanding.

Much of Mr Obama’s rhetoric is strikingly conservative, even Reaganesque. He preaches the virtues of personal responsibility and family values, and practises them too. He talks in uplifting terms about the promise of American life. His story also appeals to conservatives: it holds the possibility of freeing America from its racial demons, proving that the country is a race-blind meritocracy and, in the process, bankrupting a race-grievance industry that has produced the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

I think Democrats should welcome with open arms anyone who seeks a rational approach to our nation's problems, and who shares certain core values held by most Americans regardless of party -- even if the conclusions of these former Republicans regarding the policies that would best implement those values may differ from current Democratic orthodoxy.

Over the past decade, the essential difference between the two parties has become one of enlightened rationalism vs. emotional tribalism, not such traditional issues as their varying approaches to tax policy or tariffs or even immigration reform.

So -- Welcome to Colin Powell and Chris Buckley, and to all the other Republicans who may be wavering as the GOP ship begins to sink.