Obama is Moving on Up
Updated on 07 January 2008
When Kool and the Gang invite you to celebrate and Curtis Mayfield tells us we are "Moving on Up" it feels like it might be true.
Covering this election requires hours and hours of standing around in school gyms and town halls waiting for candidates to arrive (often over an hour late).
As you wait you can learn more about each campaign listening to the music they play to entertain their waiting supporters than you learn from their stump speeches.
Obama's music is every bit as cool as you might expect. But not so achingly hip that it might exclude anyone, obviously. When Kool and the Gang invite you to celebrate and Curtis Mayfield tells us we are "Moving on Up" it feels like it might be true.
It's bad news for all of us that Hillary is usually very late for her appearances because of the MOR rock we are subjected to. Most tracks seem to have been picked for their titles or lyrics and their unlikely references to Hillary.
The old Clinton theme used to be Fleetwood Mac "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow". Now the music sounds more like "don't stop thinking about yesterday".
The Police sing "Every little thing she does is magic". The Monkeys claim "Then I saw her face now I'm a believer". It gets worse the later she is. Over an hour late and you know you'll have to suffer Shania Twain trying "Rock This Country".
They even play "Who says you can't go home" by Jon Bon Jovi. Presumably it is meant to herald a return to the White House. But the line "Who says you can't go back" does seem to be at odds with her supposedly forward looking message.
The old Clinton theme used to be Fleetwood Mac "Don't stop thinking about tomorrow". Now the music sounds more like "don't stop thinking about yesterday".
Bad music and American politics do seem to go hand in hand. I'll never forget three hours of listening to Jon Bon Jovi endlessly repeat the same set in a town square in Boston three years ago.
Then we were waiting for John Kerry and John Edwards to take the stage. When they eventually did it was to admit they'd lost the presidential election. There could be a lesson in that. Maybe this is one aspect of presidential politics where Barak Obama really can bring real change.
