Editing Joan Baez (section)

===2008 presidential election===
Throughout most of her career, Baez remained apprehensive about involving herself in [[party politics]]. However, on February 3, 2008, Baez wrote a letter to the editor at the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' endorsing [[Barack Obama]] in the [[2008 U.S. presidential election]]. She noted: "Through all those years, I chose not to engage in party politics.&nbsp;... At this time, however, changing that posture feels like the responsible thing to do. If anyone can navigate the contaminated waters of Washington, lift up the poor, and appeal to the rich to share their wealth, it is Sen. Barack Obama."<ref>{{cite news |first=Joan |last=Baez|title=Leader on a new journey (Letter to the editor)|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/03/ED50UO8QM.DTL|work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=February 3, 2008 |access-date=February 3, 2008 }}</ref> Playing at the Glastonbury Festival in June, Baez said during the introduction of a song that one reason she liked Obama was because he reminded her of another old friend of hers, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Mills |first=Paul |title=Joan Baez |publisher=[[Glastonbury Festival]] |year=2008 |url=http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/glastonline2008.aspx?id=3443 |access-date=July 27, 2008 |archive-date=December 6, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206134109/http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/glastonline2008.aspx?id=3443 |url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- CONTENT GONE -->

Although a highly political figure throughout most of her career, Baez had never publicly endorsed a major political party candidate prior to Obama. However, after Obama was elected, she expressed that she would likely never do so again, saying in a 2013 interview in ''[[The Huffington Post]]'' that "In some ways I'm disappointed, but in some ways it was silly to expect more. If he had taken his brilliance, his eloquence, his toughness and not run for office he could have led a movement. Once he got in the Oval Office he couldn't do anything."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/joan-baez-obama_n_3051163.html |title=Joan Baez on Obama |last1=Brummitt |first1=Chris |date=April 10, 2013 |website=[[HuffPost]] |access-date=September 28, 2015 |archive-date=September 29, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929112547/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/10/joan-baez-obama_n_3051163.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She performed at the White House on February 10, 2010, as part of an evening celebrating the music associated with the civil rights movement, performing "[[We Shall Overcome]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/joan-baez-performs-white-house?category=93 |title=The White House |access-date=November 3, 2011 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |publisher=[[White House]]  |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415004627/https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/joan-baez-performs-white-house?category=93 |url-status=live }}</ref>