James Oliphant of the Chicago Tribune, in a short review of a recent Bruce Springsteen show in Ohio, speculates on The Boss's candidate preference in the ongoing Democratic nomination battle. Springsteen has declined to "endorse" either candidate and is quoted by Oliphant saying, "there are two really good Democratic candidates for president. I admire and respect them both enough to wait and see what happens." Despite Springsteen's understandable neutrality part of me wonders if he's trending towards Obama, even if he never openly casts his lot with O until the deal is done. The two are lyrical kin, committed to illuminating the story of the promise of America, to the romance in the nation's founding and the struggles of its people. Obama's line about beginning his career "in the shadow of a closed steel mill on the south side of Chicago" could be straight off Springsteen's "Devils & Dust" or his earlier "Darkness on the Edge of Town." And, of the powerful orator from Illinois, Springsteen has eloquently noted the value of the hope Obama galvanizes:
"I always look at my work as trying to measure the distance between American promise and American reality. And I think (Obama's) inspired a lot of people with that idea: How do you make that distance shorter? How do we create a more humane society? We've lived through such ugly times that people want to have a romance with the idea of America again, and I think they need to.
"The hard realities and how things get done are important, too, but if you can effectively convince people that it's possible to make things better, they get excited," the 58-year old singer-songwriter said.
Oliphant ends his short piece with lyrics from Springsteen's "The Promised Land." They read like a poem and, given that a good, daily dose of poetry can only do us well, particularly in the heated toxicity festering elsewhere in our media, I'll reprint 'em too:
There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted
The dogs on main street howl,
'cause they understand,
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man,
And I believe in a promised land
I believe in a promised land…
-JD
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