Wick Allison was Editor in Chief of The National Review from 1990 through 1993. Allison donated a lot of money to John McCain during the primaries, but he is now endorsing Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States:
Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.
Most important, Obama will be a realist. I doubt he will taunt Russia, as McCain has, at the very moment when our national interest requires it as an ally. The crucial distinction in my mind is that, unlike John McCain, I am convinced he will not impulsively take us into another war unless American national interests are directly threatened.
Allison concludes his endorsement by commenting on what has happened to conservatism by using a quote of Eric Hoffer: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Now, here's the current editor of the National Review hammering McCain for McCain's incompetence.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzRjMDk4MmVh…
And now Obama has been endorsed by prominent conservative columnist Christopher Buckley, who writes for the National Review. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/10/a…