We know about President Obama and his Al Green falsetto. Now comes news that POTUS is a closet country fan and REO Speedwagon enthusiast. On Thursday, the Obama campaign Tweeted the official Obama 2012 Campaign Playlist, and put a link up to listen to the songs on the music streaming service Spotify.
The 28 song playlist, which runs from nuevo soul man Raphael Saadiq's "Keep Marchin'," to nuevo soul woman Ledisi's "Raise Up," is below. Before slamming him for the list's many failings of mushy mediocrity, it should be noted the playlist description on Spotify is described as featuring "picks by the campaign staff - including a few of President Obama's favorites."
The campaign staff, or somebody, is apparently very fond of Jennifer Nettles and pop-country band Sugarland, who, along with Hootie-gone-country vocalist Darius Rucker, are the only registered voters only have two cuts on the mix. For anyone parsing the playlist for a preview of what the 2012 campaign will hold, the Spotify lists seems to point to an Obamian spin on the Nixonian Southern strategy: the Dems apparently plan to win over white working class voters below the Mason Dixon Line by spinning them some Montgomery Gentry, Zac Brown Band and Dierks Bentley.
I get the demographic idea, but c'mon POTUS, show some better taste: How about some gun totin' Texas country from Miranda Lambert or rough-hewn Southern soul-rock from the Alabama Shakes or Jason Isbell? Get hip, for goodness sake.
Kudos for including Arcade Fire, Florence & the Machine, Wilco, Bruce Springsteen, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Curtis Mayfield (a few of them actual Obama faves, I'm sure). But the President loses major points for taking the hip-hop vote for granted, and running away from the genre like it was a grenade with its pin pulled.
James Taylor, but no Jay-Z? Really? Is Mitt Romney, whose love of Somali rapper K'Naan moved him to play the song "Wavin' Flag" at rallys until the artist recently asked him to stop doing so, the actual hip-hop candidate?
Is there no love from the Prez for Common, the Chicago rapper who Fox News mischaracterized as a gangsta when he played the White House last year? Or for that matter, The Roots, whose socially conscious hip-hop would hardly seem to be a political risk, unless ?uestlove's Michele Bachman comments are still working against him.
I give the Obama mix a B minus, and await the Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Ron Paul mixtapes.
Here's a link to the Obama Spotify list, which you can play if you have a Spotify account. Below the songs list, there's a clip of Saadiq doing "Keep Marchin'," on Jools Holland.
1. Raphael Saadiq, "Keep Marchin'"
2. Noah And The Whale, "Tonight's The Kind Of Night"
3. Bruce Springsteen, "We Take Care Of Our Own"
4. Zac Brown Band, "Keep Me In Mind"
5. Aretha Franklin, "The Weight"
6. U2, "Even Better Than The Real Thing"
7. Ricky Martin, "The Best Thing About Me Is You," feat. Joss Stone
8. Dierks Bentley, "Home"
9. Ray LaMontagne, "You Are The Best Thing"
10. Earth Wind & Fire Experience feat. Al McKay Allstars, "Got To Get You Into My Life" (Live)
11. Booker T. & The MG's, "Green Onions"
12. Wilco, "I Got You"
13. The Impressions, "Keep On Pushing"
14. Jennifer Hudson, "Love You I Do"
15. Ages and Ages, "No Nostalgia"
16. Sugarland, "Stand Up"
17. Al Green, "Let's Stay Together"
18. Darius Rucker, "This"
19. Arcade Fire, "We Used to Wait"
20. Florence + The Machine, "You've Got The Love
21. James Taylor, "Your Smiling Face"
22. REO Speedwagon, "Roll With The Changes"
23. Sugarland. "Everyday America"
24. Darius Rucker, "Learn To Live"
25. Electric Light Orchestra, "Mr. Blue Sky"
26. Montgomery Gentry, "My Town"
27. No Doubt, "Different People"
28. Ledisi, "Raise Up"
Previously: Springsteen's "We Take Care Of Our Own" video Follow In The Mix on Twitter here
Oh, he'll do anything to try to impress us.— baldowl- C'mon Obama..No Led Zep??— Speedqueen Mistress
- should be Joker by Steve Miller...or what a fool believes....
— chilly88 - Scorpions "Wind of Change" will be his swan song.— dogman5
- Who Gives a C rap?— joe.shea
- I know a big Village People fan when i see one.— MilesLong1
- The "Obama campaign" tweeted the list? Obama's fawning lapdogs in the media will just eat it right up. Come on - you know they ran a focus group to see what songs would look best on his list. It must have shown they needed him to like some country for some southern votes, so now there's country on the list.
And who in their right mind would have any newer Springsteen songs on their list? But Springsteen is about to go out on tour... I guess the campaign is trying to get on his good side because they want some free campaign commercials during one of Springsteen's left wing anti-US rants.— ObamaSolyndra - Obama's favorite tune? The Internationale.— Barbouze
- Philly.com commentors = the lowest of the low— Kool Earl
- Kool Earl = Obamaholic
Obama's playlist = A carefully selected list that was created by polling focus groups. No offense to him, but when has anything publicly related, that ANY president's done, not been a calculated move that was meticulously planned by committee
— eburd983
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
