In 1984, the Reagan administration attempted to use Bruce Springsteen's gargantuan hit anthem Born In the USA as their election campaign theme song. Twenty years later, we are not hearing just a Springsteen song piped over loud-speakers at a Kerry campaign. We have Springsteen in the flesh, singing and campaigning for Kerry in person.
After today's appearance before an estimated crowd of 100,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, Springsteen may be the best thing that could happen to Kerry's campaign in the closing weeks. Forget Clinton, folks. He may be the adoration of the Democratic base and appeal to the moderates, but even Bubba can't touch the appeal Springsteen has to the common man of heartland America, whether that heartland is upstate New York, the cornfields of Iowa, the high deserts of New Mexico, or the suburbs of San Diego.
For over thirty years, and over seven albums, Springsteen's exuberant and thoughtful lyrics have been about the plight of the common man. The stories he has told and the characters that have been born from his songs have described the life of the lower-working-class, highlighting sometimes tragic and haunting scenes of street-life, teenage angst, dead-end life, conflicts within the family, and Vietnam veterans returning home to a government and a society who had forsaken them.
He sang about the disillusionment of the common man, their fear of being trapped in a life they can't get out of. His characters struggled to live; they lived with little or nothing. And they were always on the verge of losing everything. In his albums Darkeness at the Edge of Town and The River, the only hope for redemption his characters had was in working harder. The common man, Springsteen would later tell us in his darkest work Nebraska, always has the wherewithal to hope-- "people find some reason to believe."
This resilient spirit of the working-class would find a voice again in the gargantuan hit album Born In the USA. In this album, his characters had not changed, they simply had moved to a point where they realized the road they had traveled and saw the direction they wanted or needed to go to feel acceptance or to receive redemption. If they had to fight their way to this place of reconciliation, they would fight. This was especially true for the Vietnam vet character in the title track. And his statement of bold affirmation (the chorus) turned an angry song into an anthem that propelled the sales of the album into the stratosphere where only the likes of Michael Jackson and Prince enjoyed such success.
It is this champion and storyteller of the working-class that has endeared fans of all walks of life. And today in Wisconsin, he spoke like a Moses who had wandered for forty-years in the heartland and streets of America observing our strengths and weaknesses. His words did not disappoint.
Tim Grieve of Salon wrote a beautiful article on the Madison rally titled "I believe in the Promised Land."
Consider these opening paragraphs in which Grieve has documented Springsteens' speech:
The presidential campaign comes rushing toward you in a million shrill words, a noisy, cross-country game of tit-for-tat played through TV feeds and the sharp remarks of a hundred sniping surrogates. It's loud and it's relentless, or at least it was until Bruce Springsteen stepped onto a small stage here Thursday afternoon.
....Springsteen played a wistful, acoustic version of "The Promised Land" then quietly offered the most eloquent stump speech of this long presidential race. "I've been writing about America for 30 years," he said. "I've tried to write about who we are, what we stand for, what we fight for. I believe that these essential ideals of American identity are what's at stake on Nov. 2."
Springsteen talked about the choice facing America on the recent "Vote for Change" tour benefiting America Coming Together, but this time he delivered his remarks with much more of the world watching. Hundreds of journalists from around the globe hung on Springsteen's every word. And with people jammed through the streets leading to Wisconsin's State Capitol, the city of Madison literally stood still to listen.
Springsteen ticked off a long list of the things that matter: economic justice, a living wage, a "sane and responsible foreign policy," civil rights, and "the protection and safeguarding of our precious democracy here at home." He said: "I believe that John Kerry honors these ideals. He has lived our history over the past 60 years, and he has formed an adult view of America and its people. "
Quietly strumming his guitar as he spoke, Springsteen said Kerry understands that people are not infallible, that struggle and heartbreak are an inevitable part of the human experience. "That's why we need each other," he said. "That's why 'United We Stand' ... and 'one nation indivisible' aren't just slogans. They need to remain the guiding principles of our public life."
Springsteen called on the country to face "America's hard truths, both the good and the bad." "That's where we find a deeper patriotism, that's where we find a more complete view of who we are. That's where we find a more authentic experience as citizens, and that's where we find the power ... to make our world a better and a safer place."
...."That's why I'm here today to stand alongside Senator Kerry and to tell you that the country we carry in our hearts is waiting." When he was done, Springsteen reached for his guitar and leaned into "No Surrender," the song that opens every Kerry campaign rally. As autumn leaves fell around him, Springsteen reinvented the song. The anthemic rock 'n' roll song became a meditation on promises made and hopes held tight, and he dedicated it to John Kerry.
Yes, the fact that Bruce Springsteen sought out this chance to campaign for Kerry is an amazing endorsement. His words carried in the late-autumn Madison air rang as true as the fact that we have to breathe air to stay alive. If there is hope to be found in our future, Springsteen reminded us that it is in each other, in unity, in hope, in determination, and in John Kerry. Springsteen may have given Kerry the very key to the future.
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Regarding Kerry's speech today, I thought Kerry gave one of the best comeback responses to Bush this year. Grieve explains it as follows:
Earlier in the day in Toledo, Kerry said Bush's response to the munitions charge provides a powerful argument for voting him out of office. In Pennsylvania Wednesday, Bush accused Kerry of making "wild charges" about the missing munitions and said that a "candidate who jumps to conclusions" isn't qualified to be commander in chief. Kerry responded Thursday: "Mr. President, I agree with you." He then applied what he called "the Bush standard" to judge the president's decisions leading to the war in Iraq. "George Bush jumped to conclusions about 9/11 and Saddam Hussein," Kerry said. "George Bush jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction, and he rushed to war. George Bush jumped to conclusions about how the Iraqi people would receive us. He not only jumped to conclusions, he ignored the facts that were given to him."
