Apr 07 2008
Jane Fonda Endorses Obama
Some endorsements do more harm than good. Recently all of the candidates have been receiving backing from questionable sources. John McCain is endorsed by televangelist nut case, John Hagee, the Obama is endorsed by his own racist pastor Reverend Wright. Now Obama has been endorsed by Jane Fonda. Will Obama refute this endorsement also? It will be interesting to see his response.
Fonda was eating out last night and exited the restaurant, ignoring as celebrities often do the assembled press contingent.
But a video camera was rolling as she approached the street and someone, perhaps just trying to get her to turn around for a picture, shouted out at her back, “Who are you going to vote for?”
There was a moment of silence. Then, the actress did turn around toward the cameras, paused and with a smile said simply, “Obama!” Then she got into a car and drove away. (Source: LA Times.)
If Obama accepts Jane’s backing without saying anything if very well could cost him the vote of every Vietnam era voter in the next election. Who will throw their support behind him next, Fred Phelps? Another question is how much are American voters influenced by celebrity endorsements of political candidates. Many by now have figured it out and give them little to no credence.
Less examined is whether some celebrity endorsements may actually cost a candidate votes. This could be one of those less desirable votes for part of the country, especially if Obama was hoping to attract some crossover Republicans if he’s the Democratic candidate come fall.
Obama, who was recently named the most liberal member of the Senate by the nonpartisan National Journal, has sought to portray himself as the earliest anti-Iraq war opponent and tagged his sole remaining opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, with voting to authorize the use of force in Iraq.
The problem for those of a certain generation that endured the Vietnam War and the sometimes violent domestic conflict that accompanied it at home is that during Fonda’s controversial wartime visit to North Vietnam, she was photographed at a Communist anti-aircraft gun battery. (Source: LA Times.)
A lot of the stories about Jane Fonda are myth, loosely based on truth and distorted by time and retelling. But much of it is also true. Each of us has to judge for ourselves and come to our own conclusions. Yet one thing remains true, Vietnam Veterans are not Fonda Jane. The video below illustrates some of the myths and truths of who Jane Fonda was, is and still remains.
This endorsement of Obama by one of the most hated and divisive individuals of the 20th century will do him no good. If these celebrities really feel the need to support candidates then they should do like the rest of us, place a sign in their yard, buy a bumper sticker and vote for them in the election.
I think it’s about time embittered Vietnam veterans bury the hatchet and accept Jane Fonda as a person who saw the Veitnam War for the fraud it was from the very beginning. Her method of protesting it may have been questionable and misguided, but Jane was not the enemy and she dared to speak up against the war and the government that led us into a battledground that earned the name of “quagmire.” She had the courage to speak out when others hesitated and things got totally out of hand. As it turns out Jane Fonda has been more reviled than those power brokers who took us into that war, who were resposible for the loss of thousands of American Lives and untold numbers of dead and maimed Vietnamese and their neighbors.
As the mother of two Vietnam War veterans, I say let Jane Fonda off the hook.
I had not decided who to vote for but if J Fonda is voting for Obama this insures that I will not.