Born in the USA

Springsteen was right when he said that Obama was the only difference between the American dream & American reality.

President Barack Obama has won four more years in the White House. These presidential elections, however, highlighted an ugly underbelly of American society. The Republican Party played subliminally to racial fears and racial resentments — actively dividing the nation. White voters were continually reminded that President Obama was an African-American, who favoured only African-American constituencies. Voters were told that President Obama was a Muslim, as if there was something wrong with this. Religious prejudice became a proxy for racial prejudice. There were a number of Republicans who even raised the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate. Donald Trump made repeated requests asking for President Obama to produce a birth certificate to prove to Americans that he is indeed the American he claims to be. In fact, 25 per cent of all Republicans, according to a Harris Research Poll, believe that President Obama was, “not born in the United States and so was not eligible to be President”.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is one of his best-known singles. He explains the song as being, “about a working-class man in the midst of a spiritual crisis, where he has nothing left to tie him into society anymore. He is isolated from the government. Isolated from his family ... to the point where nothing makes sense.” It depicts a prototypical American life — mirroring Springsteen’s own lower-middle class childhood where his father worked as a blue-collar worker on a Ford assembly line. As a child, he once asked his mother if they were Republican or Democrats — he recounts, “She said we were Democrats because they are for the working people.”

President Obama once said, “The reason I am running for president is because I cannot be Bruce Springsteen.” He called upon the rock superstar to help him deliver his final appeal to Americans asking for another four years as their president. Springsteen threw his support behind President Obama, saying that the incumbent president was the only difference between the American dream and American reality. He is right. President Obama’s blueprint for America’s future is inclusive — covering everything from healthcare reform to improving education to reviving the manufacturing sector. Springsteen stressed to fans that by voting, “we get a personal hand in shaping the kind of America we want our kids to grow up in”.

Rupert Murdoch, on the other hand, urged American voters to go and see an anti-Obama documentary he helped fund. The documentary, “2016: Obama’s America” suggests President Obama’s political instincts are anti-American due to the influence his dead Muslim-Kenyan father exerts on him. The documentary explicitly warns that a second Obama term would harm the country — finishing with the statement, “The future is in your hands.”

A literary foil is a central character that contrasts the protagonist to highlight key human qualities. The word originally comes from the practice of placing a piece of reflective foil beneath a gem to make it shine more brightly. Springsteen is Obama’s foil — allowing the president full access to undecided white voters. The vote by race is crucial when determining which candidate will win the White House. It is a sad state of affairs when the formula for victory is to win at least 80 per cent of minorities and around 40 per cent of whites. Springsteen helped President Obama secure the 40 per cent white vote. Republicans, on the other hand, required a huge turnout among older, conservative whites, their last hope to usurp a black man presiding on Capitol Hill. They failed to recognise that Springsteen — one of their own — had the power to influence and reinforce positive biases, irrespective of colour and creed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2012.