The College Voter

We were slightly amused when we read Joe Klein’s Swapland/Time.com blogpost from the Hillary rally last night. Hey Joe, nice to see you last night. We were fasiscinated watching the press corp scarf down a pretty substantial meal during the opening comments of Hillary’s speech. But this is arbitrary. Here’s what caught our attention:

Music: Fascinating, this. Both Obama and Clinton have appropriated theme songs used by John Edwards back in the day: Clinton–John Mellencamp’s “This is Our Country.” Obama–Bruce’s “The Rising.” What does this mean? Could it be…something significant? Actually, no: both are perfect for the populist pandering of the moment.

via Swampland/Time

Last night we noticed the “This is our country” at the same rally Mr. Klein was writing about. It was definitely an attempt for populist appeal. But, in a way, it was almost vomiting inducing. For some reason, it always makes us sad to see particular songs/artists aligned with a particular political campaign, whether it’s Obama’s use of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” or Hillary’s use of Mellencamp Americana odes of celebration. Although the politics/music combination is inevitable, we just wish it wasn’t always so bland and partisan. Because music seems to transcend language, it’s a little nerve pinching when it becomes specifically aligned with a particular politician or political ideology.

At the very least, Hillary and Barack could try to add a little more umph into their pre-rally music repertoire while trying to make the entire experience more musically-palatable, rather then populist and pandering, as Mr. Klein describes. In the post-convention rallies, lets start hearing some cool - live hip-hop, perhaps? - rather then tiresome songs used in General Motors commercials. Or lets just bag the whole canned music thing and return to the era of spectacular marching bands playing Sussa marches…