Tired of all the questions about whether the MSM is in the tank for Barack Obama or not, they’ve decided to just make it official. The Washington Post has officially endorsed Barack Obama. (Apparently the New York Times will follow suit this weekend)

It’s not like this comes as any surprise. One need only pick up their “news” papers to see their undying love and affection for the Socialist. So much for objectivity, eh?

And aside from their obvious conflict in creating news that they’re supposed to be objectively covering, the reasons they set forth in their formal Socialist endorsement are comical.

The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain’s disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations and concerns, almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama’s relatively brief experience in national politics. But we also have enormous hopes.

Get that? When it comes to the Republican ticket, inexperience at the bottom is unacceptable… but when it comes to the Socialist ticket, “hope” will suffice to quell “reservations and concerns” about inexperience at the top of the ticket.

If you have the intestinal fortitude to continuing reading the love letter to the Socialist, you’ll see the Post actually identifies Obama’s socialist “spread the wealth” policies as a point they adore.

There are two sets of issues that matter most in judging these candidacies. The first has to do with restoring and promoting prosperity and sharing its fruits more evenly in a globalizing era that has suppressed wages and heightened inequality. Here the choice is not a close call. Mr. McCain has little interest in economics and no apparent feel for the topic. His principal proposal, doubling down on the Bush tax cuts, would exacerbate the fiscal wreckage and the inequality simultaneously.

And according to the Post, the fact that he’ll be breaking lots of his campaign promises, is another reason to love him. Hell of a ringing endorsement there, guys.

Mr. Obama’s economic plan contains its share of unaffordable promises, but it pushes more in the direction of fairness and fiscal health.

As for education… the Post credits Obama with promising the best solution while simultaneously admitting they have no idea what his solution really is.

Mr. Obama also understands that the most important single counter to inequality, and the best way to maintain American competitiveness, is improved education, another subject of only modest interest to Mr. McCain. Mr. Obama would focus attention on early education and on helping families so that another generation of poor children doesn’t lose out. His budgets would be less likely to squeeze out important programs such as Head Start and Pell grants. Though he has been less definitive than we would like, he supports accountability measures for public schools and providing parents choices by means of charter schools.

The Post sums up their decision to endorse the Socialist this way…

ANY PRESIDENTIAL vote is a gamble, and Mr. Obama’s résumé is undoubtedly thin. We had hoped, throughout this long campaign, to see more evidence that Mr. Obama might stand up to Democratic orthodoxy and end, as he said in his announcement speech, “our chronic avoidance of tough decisions.”

But what do they think of McCain?

Mr. McCain has deep knowledge and a longstanding commitment to promoting U.S. leadership and values. … he has been a force for principle and bipartisanship. He fought to recognize Vietnam, though some of his fellow ex-POWs vilified him for it. He stood up for humane immigration reform, though he knew Republican primary voters would punish him for it. He opposed torture and promoted campaign finance reform, a cause that Mr. Obama injured when he broke his promise to accept public financing in the general election campaign. Mr. McCain staked his career on finding a strategy for success in Iraq when just about everyone else in Washington was ready to give up. We think that he, too, might make a pretty good president.

I guess the moral of this story is that we should be voting for the Socialist because he is less experienced than John McCain, he lied to us about campaign finance (among other things), he’s been completely wrong on Iraq, he is reckless in his rhetoric on free-trade, he’s making campaign promises he knows he can’t keep, and he’s not giving us the details we need on his actual plans to govern… but we can always rely on hope!