HarperLee

Rolling Stone magazine, which has never before endorsed a presidentia candidate, endorses Barack Obama in its 03/20/08 issue.
A New Hope by Jann S. Wenner:

The tides of history are rising higher and faster these days. Read them right and ride them, or be crushed. And then along comes Barack Obama, with the kinds of gifts that appear in politics but once every few generations. There is a sense of dignity, even majesty, about him, and underneath that ease lies a resolute discipline. It's not just that he is eloquent — with that ability to speak both to you and to speak for you — it's that he has a quality of thinking and intellectual and emotional honesty that is extraordinary.
I first learned of Barack Obama from a man who was at the highest level of George W. Bush's political organization through two presidential campaigns. He described the first-term senator from Illinois as "a walking hope machine" and told me that he would not work for any Republican candidate in 2008 if Obama was nominated. He challenged me to read Obama's autobiography, Dreams From My Father.

The book was a revelation. Here was a man whose honesty about himself and understanding of the human condition are both deep and compassionate. Born to a white mother and an African father, he was raised in multiracial Hawaii and for several years in Indonesia. He drifted through some druggy teenage years — no apologies! — before emerging as a star at Harvard Law School. He chose to work as a community organizer in the projects of Chicago rather than join the wealthy insider world of corporate law. And as a young adult, he searched, in the distant villages of Kenya, for the father and family he never knew.

As I read all this, so elegantly written, my mind kept rolling over: Might it be possible? Is there some fate by which we could have this man as president of the United States?

Throughout the primaries, and during a visit he paid to our offices, we have come to know Barack Obama, his toughness and his grace. He would not be intimidated, and he declined to back down, when Senator Clinton called him "frankly, naive" for his willingness to meet leaders of hostile nations. When one of her top campaign officials tried to smear him for his earlier drug use, he did not equivocate or backtrack. On the matter of experience and capability, he has run an impressive, nearly flawless campaign — one that whupped America's most hard-boiled political infighters. Indeed, Obama was far more prepared to run a presidential campaign — from Day One — than Senator Clinton. And at no point did he go negative with personal attacks or character assassination; as much as they might have been justified, they didn't even seem tempting to him.

Obama has emerged by displaying precisely the kind of character and judgment we need in a president: renouncing the politics of fear, speaking frankly on the most pressing issues facing the country and sticking to his principles. He recognizes that running for president is an opportunity to inspire an entire nation.
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HarperLee

Correction: Rolling Stone did endorse a presidential candidate in 1972.

julia

Very cool!

I look forward to reading this.

I think this the first time they have endorsed a primary candidate...?

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The candidate does not speak for the campaign.

HarperLee

Thanks! Of course, primary candidate. I saw this very early this morning, and it was like I remembered the really good dream and forgot the nightmare.

guest1234567

And 1992 THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: On the Trail; ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE ENDORSES CLINTON - New York Times

and 2004 John Kerry for President : Rolling Stone




But surprisingly, I can't find an endorsement for Al Gore? Just a picture of the cover where Al has a giant package.

Sean

Oh, I thought this was going to be about Keith Richards.

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Black_Knight

But the million dollar question, will anyone who doesn't already read the Rolling Stones and is still on the fence (I.E. Morons) vote for Obama because of this endorsement?

HarperLee

The magazine is Rolling Stone. The rock group is the "Rolling
Stones".

This is your demographic, not mine, but there are a lot of young women out there who feel pressured to vote for Clinton because she
is a woman or because their families are voting for Clinton. Obama might get a second look.

Environment Man

Forget 2008 and let's go back to 1968 and before. When things were simple:

Take Me Back To The Sixties

cheapseats

I think the question is not whether anyone who isn't already a respecter of the magazine will be influenced to vote for Obama because of an endorsement by Rolling Stone, but whether anyone who is on the fence is persuaded to vote AGAINST Obama BECAUSE of an endorsement from Rolling Stone.

The youth vote alone isn't gonna cut it.

An endorsement from, for example, Jane Fonda might hurt Obama more than help him, don't you think?

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