It was the summer of 2008 while crowned as 'the new hope' for a dazzling country which had fallen on extremely hard times, Senator Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential race. This event would remain a positive historical landmark event for generations to come. Later, almost as as a editorial snapshot of this victory, or memento, or as a pause in the massive political race (where one could savor that rare moment charged with symbolic, or 'actual' change in context, change in political dialogue, and change in the cultural direction of the nation) the cover of the July issue of "Rolling Stone Magazine" was entirely dedicated to the iconic image of Obama --'rock star candidate'. No caption or headline was needed to identify the youthful face of Barack Obama, who had (by that time) become recognized across the world. The detail which stands out from the cover is a a smile, Im sure that there were plenty of other images of a non-smiling Obama to choose from, but I'm guessing that the editors of RS wanted to express the emotion of that victory, knowing that in the future when one looks back to July of 2008 it will be impossible to recreate the giddy thrill that was under the surface of our skin, the trill of hope, the trill of change, and the electric sensation of reconnection to a dream.

If there was ever a magazine cover worth collecting for it's historical value it is this one.

^_^