The reelection campaign would therefore be more about wooing moderate and independent voters than about shoring up the committed Republican base. Early on, his team had decided that the president’s core supporters would vote for him no matter what. In 1984, President Reagan was running for his second term. was undeniably on Springsteen himself-turning him from a relatively apolitical performer from an avowedly working-class background to a passionate advocate for the rights of the disenfranchised-and that was all thanks to Reagan. track (“I’m On Fire”) for a 2008 playlist of favorite songs.īut the greatest political impact of Born in the U.S.A. Even Barack Obama, probably the most broadly appreciative music fan ever to occupy the Oval Office, chose a Born in the U.S.A.

political discourse, from President Ronald Reagan’s attempt to co-opt Springsteen’s popularity right after the album’s release to John Kerry’s ploddingly literal use of “No Surrender” in his presidential campaign 20 years later. is also the Springsteen album whose songs have had the longest half-life in U.S. If you hear a Springsteen song at your local supermarket, nine times out of 10 it comes from this album.īorn in the U.S.A. Its songs-“I’m On Fire,” “Glory Days,” “Darlington County” and others-are FM radio staples, their foursquare drum, piano, base and guitar parts perfectly at home in either a Jersey Shore bar or an East Texas roadhouse. He is professor of English, Film Studies and American Studies at the City University of New York.ī orn in the U.S.A., which turns 30 this week, is Bruce Springsteen’s best-selling album to date, and that should come as no surprise. Marc Dolan is author of Bruce Springsteen and the Promise of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Campaign speech lyricsx