Springsteen Joins Kerry
Bruce Springsteen is set to join the Kerry-Edwards campaign for
three events leading up to the November 2nd presidential election.
The rocker will speak and perform one or two songs at stops in
Madison, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio, on October 28th, and on
election eve in Cleveland, Ohio.
Springsteen is also the driving force between the Vote for
Change Tour, which brought artists such as R.E.M., Pearl Jam, the
Dave Matthews Band and the Dixie Chicks on board for a series of
thirty-three swing-state shows. The concerts registered voters and
raised a total of $15 million for the Democratic advocacy group
America Coming Together.
In speaking to Rolling Stone about the motivation
behind Vote for Change, Springsteen explained, “I felt we had been
misled. I felt [this administration] had been fundamentally
dishonest and had frightened and manipulated the American people
into war . . . I don’t think it has made America safer . . . How
many of our best young people are going to die? Sitting on the
sidelines would be a betrayal of the ideas I’d written about for a
long time.”
John Kerry, who has used the Springsteen song “No Surrender” as
the theme to his campaign, told Rolling Stone that having
Springsteen as an advocate is “both a privilege and exciting. I
hope it has an impact on the outcome.”
Speaking of his political involvement as a musician, Springsteen
commented, “There is a long tradition of the artist being involved
in the life of the nation. For me, it goes back to Woody Guthrie,
James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Bob Dylan . . . The artist is
there to open up discourse, to get people thinking about American
identity: Who are we? What do we fight for? What do we stand for? I
view these things as a fundamental part of my job.”