As good a summary as I've seen

[womzilla]

I don't think John Kerry and John Edwards have all the answers. I do believe they are sincerely interested in asking the right questions and working their way toward honest solutions. They understand that we need an administration that places a priority on fairness, curiosity, openness, humility, concern for all America's citizens, courage and faith.

...

It is through the truthful exercising of the best of human qualities--respect for others, honesty about ourselves, faith in our ideals--that we come to life in God's eyes. It is how our soul, as a nation and as individuals, is revealed. Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.



--Bruce Springsteen, 5 August 2004

Comments

[armoire-man.livejournal.com]

Go freakin' Bruce! That's fabulous!

God, it does my heart good to hear this stuff. Makes me realize how dismal the current situation is.

Bruce May Have Been Born to Run, But...

[(Anonymous)]

...he wasn't born yesterday, as Walter Mondale said in 1984, when Ronald Reagan tried to co-opt "Born in the U.S.A."

In *The Satanic Verses,* Salman Rushdie throws out a query about "who has the better tunes," and in the very first issue of *Rolling Stone* I read (No. 221, Jimmy Thudpucker and Ginny Slade on the cover), there was an article about politicians courting rock musicians in their campaigns. That was in 1976: a follow-up response noted that most of the artists who had supported McGovern in 1972 were big stars four years later, while most of the ones who had supported Nixon were (help me out, Leo) "on the ash-heap of history." (Spacibo, Tovarisch Trotsky.)

I thought Springsteen expressed it well, but something in his words put me in mind of similar praise I'd once read for Jerry Brown. Voters don't seem to like giving their support to people who point out that the questions are difficult and indicate that the honest solutions won't be easy. On the other hand, I was glad to see it in *The Times* instead of another graph from George P. Schultz about how Clinton inherited prosperity and bequeathed recession, which Woody restored. I swear I don't remember Woody mentioning a recession in the 2000 campaign until the thirty-seven-day ordeal following the election when we had to declare him the winner fast because one was coming.

One of my favorite early Springsteen songs is "Lost in the Flood" from *Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.* Do not, repeat, do not confuse quicksand with mud.

Salaam from the Sparrow.