Monday, November 5, 2012

Salvation Is at Hand!

The formerly venerable Los Angeles Times reports tonight that Bruce Springsteen has granted parole to governor Chris Christie and allowed him out of the doghouse in Asbury Park. When I read that I wondered if that was Christie's price for his effusive praise of President Obama over the federal disaster response to Hurricane Sandy after  it ravaged New Jersey last week. There is a picture of the backsides of the Boss and the President with Obama's hand centered squarely on Bruce's back that accompanies  the article. It reminded me very much of pictures I have seen depicting  Lyndon Johnson arm-twisting during his years in the White House. If that was Christie's price it was a good move on his part because by poking Myth Romney in the eye the way he did last week he has probably found himself on the outside of the inner workings of the GOP looking in, much like a starving man might stare at the window-seated customers consuming sumptuous dinners in a fancy restaurant. Now he can at least console himself with having spoken with the Boss.
According to the report in the Times Springsteen was in the conference room aboard Air Force One seated at the table across from the President of the United States who was then speaking to Christie. Obama told Christie that he had someone who wanted to speak to him and handed the phone to Bruce.  The rest is history. The Boss commented later that the ride with the President on Air Force One was 'pretty cool.'  For a wordsmith like Springsteen that was a  rather large understatement I think. For his part Christie lost no time in announcing at his own press gaggle that he had indeed finally spoken with Bruce Springsteen. All good things do come to those who wait.
Reading that article today made me think that it might be interesting to replace the current Democratic anthem with a new one such as Bruce's rendition of When Saints Go Marching In that appears on his Live in Dublin  album.  The opening line of that old  American spiritual reminds us that "we are all traveling in the footsteps of those who've come before." A very fine answer to the boastful and arrogant  BS of the campaign now fading into the past that "I built that."

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