Foreign Policy Figures, Former Clinton Cabinet Member Back Obama

Barack Obama today scored the backing of Sam Nunn and David Boren, two former senators with strong foreign policy bona fides. The relatively conservative Democrats – who are not superdelegates – will be advisors on Obama's National Security Foreign Policy Team.

Nunn is a Georgian who spent eight years as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee; Boren, the former Governor of Alabama, was chair of the Senate Select Committee on intelligence. Both are highly respected in the Democratic foreign policy establishment.

Here's Nunn, from a statement released by the Obama campaign: "Our next president -- working across party and economic lines -- must restore and strengthen our national purpose, our credibility, our competence and our spirit. We need a president who has the temperament of a leader -- a sharp, incisive, strategic mind, a rare capacity for self criticism, and a willingness to hear contrary points of view."

"Demonizing the opposition, oversimplifying the issues, and dumbing down the political debate prevent our country from coming together to make tough decisions and tackle our biggest challenges," He added, echoing what Obama himself has been saying in recent days.

Boren noted that Obama "had the good judgment more than five years ago to warn against our involvement in this tragic and costly war. He also understands the need to repair our partnerships with other nations and to more effectively use diplomacy to serve our national interests."

Obama also secured the endorsement of former Clinton administration Secretary of Labor Robert Reich this afternoon. In a blog post, Reich, also not a superdelegate, wrote that his "avoidance of offering a formal endorsement until now has also been affected by the pull of old friendships and my reluctance as a teacher and commentator to be openly partisan." (Reich was a friend of Bill Clinton at Oxford and dated Hillary Clinton when she was at Wellesley.) He writes that he could not "be silent any longer":

Although Hillary Clinton has offered solid and sensible policy proposals, Obama's strike me as even more so. His plans for reforming Social Security and health care have a better chance of succeeding. His approaches to the housing crisis and the failures of our financial markets are sounder than hers. His ideas for improving our public schools and confronting the problems of poverty and inequality are more coherent and compelling. He has put forward the more enlightened foreign policy and the more thoughtful plan for controlling global warming.

He also presents the best chance of creating a new politics in which citizens become active participants rather than cynical spectators. He has energized many who had given up on politics. He has engaged young people to an extent not seen in decades. He has spoken about the most difficult problems our society faces, such as race, without spinning or simplifying. He has rightly identified the armies of lawyers and lobbyists that have commandeered our democracy, and pointed the way toward taking it back.

Finally, he offers the best hope of transcending the boundaries of class, race, and nationality that have divided us. His life history exemplifies this, as do his writings and his record of public service. For these same reasons, he offers the best possibility of restoring America's moral authority in the world.