Nunn, Boren back Obama

Two former Democratic senators endorsed Barack Obama today, adding their foreign policy and national security gravitas to his candidacy.

Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma, both from the Democratic Party's conservative wing, will serve as advisers on Obama's National Security Foreign Policy Team, his campaign announced.

"Our next president -- working across party and economic lines -- must restore and strengthen our national purpose, our credibility, our competence and our spirit," Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1987 through 1995, said in a statement provided the Obama campaign. “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."

Boren, who was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, added, “Senator Obama is also a person of sound and good judgment. He 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."