For baby boomers, The Rolling Stones and Rolling Stone magazine were big deals. While The Rolling Stones prepared to play their free concert in Cuba, Jann S. Wenner, longtime editor and publisher of Rolling Stone endorsed Hillary Clinton. After having endorsed Barack Obama in March 2008, his endorsement of Hillary Clinton appears out of character.
One can argue that Bernie Sanders is no Barack Obama, and some would argue Senator Sanders is actually a better incarnation of the hope for change that then-Senator Obama represented. Those same voters might also question what traits Secretary Clinton lacked in 2008 that she now possesses that persuaded Mr. Wenner to pick her over Sanders. After reading his lengthy editorial, I found it to be a flimsy defense of the Democratic candidate who has turned “Yes we can” into “No we can’t.”
After lavishing praise on Senator Sanders, he claims the senator’s campaign is based on anger and an unwillingness to compromise. He says anger is not a plan, and includes a reference from a surrogate, “Paul Krugman writes that the Sanders movement has a "contempt for compromise.” Almost mockingly, he goes on, “Every time Sanders is challenged on how he plans to get his agenda through Congress and past the special interests, he responds that the "political revolution" that sweeps him into office will somehow be the magical instrument of the monumental changes he describes.”
What about Clinton's ability to accomplish anything in an environment of Republican obstruction? Is this serious journalism, or Republican propaganda?
He continues by comparing Senator Sanders’ insurgent primary challenge to Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential bid. Apples and oranges, but the most egregious aspect of his editorial is his glossing over Senator Clinton’s vote “…authorizing Bush to invade Iraq 14 years ago…”
As a baby boomer who turned eighteen in June 1972, the Vietnam War weighed heavily on my mind for years prior to graduating from high school. Thanks to the “youth” of that era and their activism, they helped to end the lottery for the draft just in time, and George McGovern best embodied the sentiments of that time.
While it appears that Secretary Clinton would continue to embrace a backdoor draft in pursuance of extended Middle East wars, Senator Sanders provides hope that we might find a way to extricate ourselves from the endless wars.
After Richard Nixon's election that year, and if, and only if, we can conclude Democrats had to move to the middle in order to win the White House, i would re-evaluate their strategy in the midst of our current political climate.
He ends by saying he believes Clinton is more likely to win the general election than Sanders. He says this in spite of polls consistently showing both Clinton and Sanders beating Donald Trump, with many showing Sanders beating him by larger margins.
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