Bono is excellent, but he is Irish… however his veiwpoints are tops.
Vedder would be a good one also.
But who is gonna vote for a rocknroller for pres these days? maybe in 30 years when the old coots die off.
Well, I would. Og knows they can’t POSSIBLY do a worse job than the “career politicians” have. And as I said already, just IMAGINE the Inaugural Balls …
I dunno about Bowie…his confused (and thankfully short-lived) pseudo-Nazi phase of the 1970s was enough to guarantee he’d never get my vote, regardless of his other good qualities as a candidate.
Neil Young. He seems fairly balanced.
Much like Ted Kennedy, Neil Young might be dogged by accusations regarding the death of a young woman by a river.
Same reason we can’t elect Johnny Cash: he shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
I’d like to amend this by saying I’m not intending to criticize Bowie as a human being or an artist, or to suggest that he’s some kind of white supremacist at heart (he’s married to a black African woman, after all), just that I’d want a politician to be a little more consistent. Part of Bowie’s charm as an artist and entertainer is that he’s constantly reinventing himself, but that’s not a quality I’d find appealing in an elected official.
If I voted for Ziggy Stardust, I’d expect four years of Ziggy Stardust (couldn’t hope for much more than that, since the earth is going to end in “Five Years” anyway) and I wouldn’t want him to adopt another style/persona/platform midway through the term.
Neil Young is also Canadian, which eliminates him.
Bruce Springsteen. He is the Boss after all. He could even use Born in the U.S.A. while actually knowing what the song is about (unlike another president who tried to co-opt the song for his '84 re-election campaign, whom I won’t mention.) Given that you need broad-based appeal to get elected, I’d bet he would have the best chances of winning if the SDMB nominees actually went for it.