The 20-member New York Times editorial board nearly endorsed Barack Obama for president, but ultimately Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. pushed through a Clinton endorsement, anonymous sources have told The New Republic. The behind-the-scenes article echoes conjecture from New York Magazine that Sulzberger’s BFF gym buddy Steven Rattner, a major Clinton donor and former Times reporter, may have been the deciding factor.
An unnamed Times staffer regrets the error: “We're on the wrong side of history.” (Wouldn’t be the first time.) And editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal admits, “It was a really hard one, no question about it. We talked about this within our board for hours. It was a very lively, interesting discussion.”
The editorial endorsing Clinton was published much earlier in the primary season than usual, and stands in contrast to the overwhelming number of editorial pages endorsing Obama, including the New York Times Company-owned Boston Globe and the four biggest dailies in Texas, where Clinton’s presidential fate will hang in the balance next Tuesday.
According to TNR’s sources, Obama received a “lukewarm reception” when he first met with the paper's editorial board last spring, but his second visit in November went much better, though Sulzberger began the meeting with a characteristically awkward aside: “I heard you flopped last time.” And it’s unclear whether Obama had enough pillows for his comfort during the meeting.
Photo: BHowdy.
