Why After 75 Years, Esquire Endorsed a Presidential Candidate
Two years ago, in our issue that hit newsstands a month before the midterm elections, we decided to make a statement about how important the '06 elections were (and how important it was for our readers to participate) that we endorsed a candidate in every federal election in the country, and for good measure, in gubernatorial races as well. It was an insane thing for a magazine with a small staff to do--compile dossiers on well over a thousand candidates and potential candidates and then make a choice in each of nearly 500 races and justify that choice in a few pointed words. The reaction was astounding--candidates we opposed trashed us on their sites and in their local papers; candidates we favored announced it in every way they could.
This year, in an election year in which the stakes are even higher, there was no real decision to make. We were going to reprise the "Endorsement Package." In honor of the election, the entire November issue became the "endorsement issue," stuffed with impassioned recommendations to our readers. One of those endorsements is for Barack Obama to become the next President of the United States. It's a thoughtful, lengthy, slightly intemperate piece of writing, and by no means hagiographic. The endorsement expresses our frustrations with Obama's candidacy and his campaign at least as much as it makes the case for what it is we hope he can accomplish. As much as any other factor, we made this endorsement out of a determination that a continuation of the Bush era is simply unthinkable. We do see Senator Obama as a transformational figure, but we did not recommend against John McCain lightly. Over the past two years, we've published four substantive pieces about Senator McCain, including one cover profile. He's a man we have long respected and liked, but the man running for president is a very different man from the John McCain we wrote about two years ago, or 8 months ago, or just a few weeks ago.
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This paragraph says, rather neatly, some of the very points I have endeavored to say over the past months but I, as so many others, get swept away in the fast fury of new news. I can barely finish a full thought sometimes before the next topic is breached.
This paragraph says so much of it in such a few words;
"One could be forgiven for thinking that the senator (McCain) was leading a movement that had been exiled for decades and was now storming back to Washington to save the country from its oppressors. Of course, the truth is that it is the excesses of McCain's own party from which the country needs to be saved. That McCain is now attempting to seize the mantle of "change" for himself is profoundly absurd. And that he expects the American people to swallow it is profoundly insulting. History demands that this election be a referendum on the Bush years, and John McCain has tried desperately to change the subject."
This financial fiasco is a glaring example of the failure of the fiscal right which will effect us for years. But just as important is the failure the social right will bring upon us should McCain win...he will chose no less than 3 Supreme Court Justices. That failure we will feel for generations....
I beg you; Give. Volunteer. Vote. I do. www.barackobama.com
Being neutral is not an option. Just think: when Bush visited European cities, there were angry riots and violent demonstrations. Unfairly or not, people drew parallels between Bush and Hitler. On the other hand, when Obama visited Berlin, there was a huge rally of 200,000 more people. I know that Germans do not have any right to decide an American election. But will we keep pretending that this phenomenon is not extraordinary? If as Americans we want to see our country's image be restored overseas, we'd better pay attention to how fellow global citizens perceive us.
One would like to think Americans would vote for the guy who was tops in his class at Harvard, rather than a guy whose connections kept him from being thrown out of the Naval Academy where he graduated fifth from last. If Americans truly care about the future, they will want the coolest head and the clearest mind, the best communicator and the most inclusive and creative leader. the guy who will bring everyone to the table. That is clearly Barack Obama. If we make this judgment not by "the color of his skin" but the "content of his character," we will surely choose him. Otherwise, it's appropriate for McCain to invoke Teddy Roosevelt, because we are in for a very rough ride.
In the end McCain will be remembered as having attained the rank of Captain, Retired, and having served as Senator. That epitaph might not be to his liking, but it is all he has earned.
Endosements should be prospective, and meant to encompass the broadest interests for the future. Obama represents the future, and McCain the past. There really is only one choice, and the American People understand that.
I knew I subscribed to Esquire for a reason!
Thanks, Esquire! I agree with your choice to endorse Sen. Obama!
Kudos to Esquire!
In these scary times one can't afford to be neutral.
Thank you Esquire, finally a magazine with thoughtful insightful articles is actually using their talent and intellectual staff to do something very constructive, helping to save our country from another republican assault on our economy and probably another war in the Middle East.
Obama/Biden
Well those of us who lived in Arizona for a while without a da mn MLK day to celebrate like the rest of the country know John McCain all too well. For a day to celebrate the greatness and dedication of one man to unite the country to be taken as lightly as he did for years, formed my opinion about him long time ago. I feel like Kanye West sometimes "John McCain doesn't care about black people." But John McCain doesn't care about any people that don't have a Seven Figure Salary....black or white
Right on.
I used to subscribe to Esquire in the 1970s. It contained some of the best writing in America and provocative topics. I still have a copy of the 40th anniversary issue because I consider it to be one of the single best issues of a magazine I've ever read. I let my subscription lapse when I felt that the writing had become more pedestrian and the magazine leaned toward the obsession with materialism, sex, and fame that is so common in the mass circulation (NYC/LA-centric) publications.
Permit me the opportunity to check it out again.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathaniel-bach/obamas-big-tent-campaign_b_95966.html
http://motorcityliberal.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-bolshevik-mentality-coup-purge.html
http://correntewire.com/i_learn_something_new_every_day_alice_palmer
is the american punditry and press actually afraid of obama? probably. but he couldn't run his game in the bronx.
http://alegrescorner.soapblox.net/showDiary.do;jsessionid=32E12CF2342C7AE3DC130173BFE9EC03?diaryId=728
not a lot of change we need in those tactics- at all. these are reasons why it is so essential to maintain a multifaceted pluralistic american radical left totally independent of obama in all respects. this means that the usual liberal suspects will have to be supplanted by new blood. a new party is part of the answer, i.e., the greens. they are ready if this thing gets into war + breadlines or anything close. the old liberal double game of voting dem then criticizing dems won't do it any more. the right got beyond voting centrist then bitching and simply took over. i think that's also the best for left liberals and radicals. green '08- and you thought elites hated PALIN...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeuACTylIJQ
Yeah, just what we need - four more years of repug crap.
I'm as afraid of an Obama presidency as I am of McCain. Worse case scenario, we're Europe. Best case, we're back to all boats floating upwards. But, reading between the lines, I think Obama is the winner. He looks and sounds the part, he's popular and McCain looks like he has one foot in the grave. Oh yeah, there's that Economy thing too!
'Worse case scenario, we're Europe'!
I'm an American living in Europe - it's pretty good. Affordable health care for all is a right, not a priviledge.
"Worse case scenario, we're europe"
worse case? You obviously have never been to Europe! Their standard of living is immesurably higher than our own! I have a home in Holland, and their ENTIRE COUNTRY is what only our richest neighborhoods look like in the US. Perfect infrastructure, everything impecably maintained, no ghettos and almost no homelessness, everything running on time and in perfect order, almost no crime, everyone very respectful of eachother.
Until I left America and went to Europe, I literally could not imagine that any human society was capable of running as well as MOST of Western Europe is run.
Right on, Holland cat.
Why America is so afraid of a mixed government is beyond me. I suppose it harks back to cold war mythology.
Take some trips overseas and see the light! People live quite well over there and stay healthy a long time (old people whizzing around on bikes--hardly any fatties and not the kind of hate-mongering we have here, plenty of windmills and organic food)
Besides, Obama is NOT trying to turn us into Europe. He is simply trying to get us cheaper, more fair healthcare.
Quit being so darn paranoid, you neo-cons and naysayers out there (there aren't many on Huffpo but some)
Obama & Biden!!!
Lose the fear.
If you think Europe is a worst case scenario, then all I can say is that you've obviously never been to Europe. I could never dream of America having the standard of living that most Western Europeans enjoy. Until I moved to the Netherlands, I literally could not dream that it was possible to live so well.
The funniest thing so far this week was George Will's question to McCain:
"Are you going to get any better, or is this it?
Made me laugh all day.
Now I'll have to stop buying Esquire - not because you support Obama; but, because you support someone. If you supported McCain, I'd stop buying the magazine.
There are magazines that are news, political, and others entertainment - yours was entertainment, now it is polical. While the major news magazines have been on the left for years and the political magazines run the full spectrum, entertainment magazines; hence, their editors should just shut up and entertain. You're doing this to sell more magazines, not because Esquire is a major news magazine. Soon, we'll see Norm Abrams on This Old House magazine state that in 25 years they have never supported a candidate; however, now it is time. That would be stupid and it won't happen; Esquire's action is just stupid.
Do you ever tell a joke? Do you ever have family and/or friends at your home, "entertaining" them?
If you answered yes to either of these, you must cease and desist from ever having a political opinion.
EVERYBODY has a right and should express their political beliefs whenever they feel. How would you feel if Esquire ran stories that attempt to divide and conquer?
I have never read Esquire. I think now I will give it a crack. Sometimes things get so bad that nearly everyone has a duty to step forward and try to do something about it. I see things as so bad, I have changed my middle name to "Hussein."
khstjohn
That's the word DUTY
Too many off us just don't get it. Lazy americans. None of that revolt against my calling bulls___ on factions of my country. I'm not blind to the areas we need to be better.
Please save your faux outrage. There is no such thing as "left wing" media. There's the media and there's Fox News. Learn the difference.
Save the cheap talk. I'll bet you've never bought the magazine to begin with.
J... nah. too easy.
Yet you never stopped buying Esquire after the four times that Senator McCain was featured. You have exposed YOUR phoniness> "Left-leaning" indeed!
To say that an American magazine cannot endorse a candidate is ludicrious. We are Americans and everyone has a stake in this election. I am not an Esquire reader, but they being a part of the American fabric...good for you for speaking up.
Plus it might bring more sales. Nothing wrong with good old capitalism.
Obama/Biden '08
It's not that McCain changed at all - it's that, finally, his true colors are showing and it's not pretty.
Well said.
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