May 2, 2007

It’s Over: Obama Gets Oprah’s Endorsement (Again)

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Oprah Winfrey, appearing on the Larry King Live show, threw her support behind Barack Obama. Her explanation: “I know him personally; I think that what he stands for, what he has proven that he can stand for, was worth me going out on a limb for him. I haven’t done it in the past; I haven’t felt that I knew anybody well enough to be able to say I believe in this person.”

She wishes no ill will on anyone, especially Hillary. “I have great respect for Hillary Clinton. I have said before that because I am for Barack, does not mean that I am against Hillary or anybody else. . . . I have not one negative thing to say about Hillary Clinton.”

She’s kind of done this before. In the past, though, Oprah avoided saying directly “I endorse Barack Obama.” Instead she would say things like Obama is “her guy,” or “her choice,” or “her favorite senator.” Now it’s more official.

I’m not kidding around folks. If Obama uses Oprah to chip away at Clinton’s base amongst women, it’s over. Obama should just start campaign for re-election.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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