Former Bush spokesman endorses Obama

McClellan also said he has always planned to support a candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done.

McClellan, who was Bush’s chief spokesman from July 2003 to April 2006, is the second former administration official to back Obama in a week after Bush’s first secretary of state Colin Powell.

On Sunday, Powell in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press endorsed Obama, saying ‘I think that Senator Obama brings a fresh set of eyes, fresh set of ideas to the table’.

Earlier this year McClellan sharply criticized President Bush for the Iraq war in his book, ‘What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception’.

He wrote in his book, “History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. The perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath.”

After the book released, the White House said Bush was surprised and saddened about it.

Meanwhile, The New York Times in a Thursday editorial endorsed the Democratic presidential hopeful, saying Obama had ‘met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change’.

The Times posted its endorsement on its website on Thursday evening and was to publish it in Friday editions of the newspaper.