For a couple of days, Yardbarker.com had a post by Greg Oden on its front page, racking up more barks (positive votes) each hour. The title of his blog entry was: Senator Obama is getting my vote. Then, Jason Wulterkens wrote about how Tiger Woods recently jumped on the Obama bandwagon, throwing his support toward the likable candidate. It got me thinking, should athletes or agents vocally express their opinions on who America should vote for in a political election? Obviously, everybody has a First Amendment right to publicly announce who they are going to support in any type of forum. But is it a smart business decision to do so?
Leigh Steinberg, known as an agent who is always bucking the general trend (Jerry McGuire was supposedly based on his life), has also publicly announced his support for Senator Obama. In fact, he has created a group called Athletes for Obama with the help of Reggie Bush and Charles Barkley.
No matter if you think an athlete or agent should publicly support a candidate or drive people to vote for a particular person, I think we can all agree that it is worthwhile for people in high positions to have a goal of trying to broadly influence people to vote (not specifically who to vote for). That is why I particularly liked the way that Oden ended his post:
If the person I vote for wins it’s gonna be because of my one little vote, at least that’s what I’m gonna think. I think everyone should think that way. This will be my first presidential election to participate in as a voter and I hope that you younger voters will get involved. I think that our votes can really influence the outcome so go out, register and vote for who you think is the best candidate to be the best leader for this country and make sure you and your family will feel good about the new president that is elected in November.
I also urge all of this site’s readers to stay up to date with the Presidential race and vote this November. This will be the first opportunity for many of you to vote in a Presidential election. Make your voice heard. Each vote counts.
5 replies on “Publicly Endorsing Political Candidates”
President of Black Fives (www.blackfives.com), Claude Johnson, is very knowledgeable on Celebrity/Athlete endorsers of Barack Obama. He has started a website called http://www.Ballers4Barack.com as well.
Those guys can stfu. They have the right to their express their opinion, and I have the right to express the fact that their opinions suck and are annoying.
If Oden titled his post, “Universal healthcare is what I’m voting for,” it would have been more truthful. It’s like the battle between Clinton and Obama. Obama says vote for me, Clinton says support these issues.
[…] did a post in March titled Publicly Endorsing Political Candidates, which tells a little more about athletes sponsoring candidates and speaking out publicly. It […]
Gred Oden was very bright in college. He’s great to have an endorsement from. Same with Charles Barkley, he’s one of those guys who knows his stuff. I guess when you have $20 million per year, you don’t mind giving $12 million back in taxes. And who better to spend 60% of your money than the federal government. We all know large governments are the most efficient means to helping each individual who needs the boost.