Yasser, Boss

By John L. Barlett
10/29/04

One of the most interesting items of note in the 2004 Election Year comes with the endorsement of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry by one of my former musical heroes, Bruce Springsteen. In addition to yesterday's Madison, Wisconsin lovefest, Bruce just completed a 33 city Rock Tour with other fading musical luminaries like the Dixie Chicks and John Mellencamp, titled “The Vote For Change Tour”.

The purpose of this tour was to encourage the election of John Kerry in the upcoming Presidential Election on November 2nd. Springsteen, for decades the favorite of music fans across the political, economic and sociological spectrum, also a self described “ non-partisan” explained that it was time to use some of the “capital” accrued during his years of making great records and influencing generations of music lovers to affect a change in U.S. policies domestically and abroad, etc. etc.

It should be noted, however that all proceeds from the tour went into the coffers of MoveOn PAC (the rabidly left wing 527 group financed in part by George Soros) to benefit America Coming Together (ACT), another group embroiled in controversy, most notably voter registration fraud activities (registering Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Scooby Doo and the like) from sea to shining sea.

This past week, Kerry picked up another Celebrity Endorsement: Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat! According to press snippets on this blockbuster announcement, Yasser’s Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is unsure if George W. Bush is re-elected to office and that "During an American election and the three months after, allies of the United States should do more work than they would do otherwise”.

Curious bedfellows, yes, but you may be thinking “What in the hell does one have to do with the other?” Because while it appears that while both Bruce & Yasser are saying “We wholeheartedly endorse Senator Kerry, not because he has any substance, but because we know he will adopt pacifist policies in the Middle East, which we can trumpet across the airwaves, pop culture press and Al-Jazeera as a win & proof of Bush’s failed policy initiatives”, it really should be noted that one of these two men actually loves the USA, was Born in the USA, and is red white and blue as it gets, would probably take the trash out for your mother, while the other is a murdering thug, with the blood of thousands of innocent men, women & children under his fingernails, not to mention a proxy for every other ragtag band of killers in the Middle East and beyond bent on the destruction of our way of life.

Why would either man jump into the fray in a landscape so fraught with danger, when both have potentially so much capital (fiscal & political) to lose? Perhaps because Bruce, from the historically Democratic leaning Garden State of New Jersey, and because he is of hearty blue-collar-salt-of–the-earth-FDR-Great-Society Democratic lineage, can afford to…..and still not completely alienate the other 50 or so percent of Americans who will just let his liberalism slide and tap their feet in anticipation for the next Bruce record. It seems just another empty celebrity endorsement, although I wouldn’t characterize the deeply introspective Springsteen as a left wing bubblehead in the order of, say, Ben Affleck or Leo DeCaprio.

Unfortunately for Bruce, the less than explicit endorsement of Arafat for a change of leadership in the White House creates a curious juxtaposition when the two men’s motives are compared, and this puts the Boss in dubious company when examined at face value.

For Arafat, I guess he feels that he can’t sink into the excrement any deeper than he’s in it already with Sharon & Co, and that the smokescreen of a change in U.S. leadership could buy him a photo opp or two prior to his eventual demise. Arafat’s agenda is obvious. A change of administration would put the Palestinian Authority leader back in good stead with the lefties in Washington and the U.N. , take the heat off of his endorsement of the intifada and the murderous actions of Hamas & the Islamic Jihad, and might even get him back on the state dinner invitation list under a Kerry Administration. After all, Former President Clinton, and even the Kerry campaign’s venerable Jesse Jackson have wholeheartedly approached relations with Chairman Arafat with an open arms policy, in order to play both sides of the fence in their ongoing campaign for a Nobel Peace prize and post ‘90’s political relevance. (Arafat visited the White House during the Clinton years a record 24 times.) On a serious note, the shameful pandering to Arafat by Jackson, Clinton, or anyone else is a cynical slap at the plight of Israel, who really knows what it means to be on “Orange Alert” 24/7, 365 days a year. Bus Rides, anyone?

Bruce, on the one hand, is the archetypical Working Class Hero, with true blue American roots, a product of 60’s rock & roll garage band sweat equity, fully realizing the American Dream while carefully stewarding his well deserved adulation and place in music history with humiliation and good humor. On the other hand, there is really no reason for Bruce to be buying into the old liberal claptrap of fear politics, the litany of ani-war hysteria and outright fabrications of the left with respect to suppression of voter rights, federal funding for stem cell research, current economic viability, environment, et.al

Bruce spends a lot of time here in Wellington, FL, (The Polo Capital of the World) in Palm Beach County, Florida, where I reside, and is surrounded by the trappings of the good life which he has earned and rightly deserves to enjoy. You see, Bruce can afford to get the facts, or at least pay someone to get them for him…or maybe even take the time to discuss the issues with your Humble Author, for purposes of cogent clarification.

Here it is, in a nutshell:

Bush wants to take the fight to the terrorists in their own backyard, protect American citizens first, take the head off of the snake, focus on the endgame, critics be damned. Like it or not, our country was brutally attacked on 9/11/01, and the hand-wringing and game playing with despotic and tyrannical regimes has to end…and now. They, including the recently defrocked Mr. Hussein, are either with us, or against us. He chose, he lost, and now he’s in the pokey…and yes, Mr. Kerry, it was the right war, right time, and right regime to topple for a myriad of reasons, many of which you recounted in your April addresses post-nomination…you duplicitous opportunistic twit! I wonder if you have a poster of Neville Chamberlain on the wall of your bedroom, right above your lava lamp, you phony!

Bush prefers to hold the family of Mr. Springsteen (And Michael Moore, and John Kerry, for that matter) in the highest regards with respect to their God given rights to pursue their chosen path, make their millions, entertain the masses, windsurf till they drop, get manicures, pick their noses, and to pay their fair share of taxes.

Bush wants his final campaign in public life to result in an opportunity for the USA to finish the job it began by planting the seeds of democracy and freedom in historically oppressed regions of the world, (where no one gets to rock their way to the top of the pops and the collective conscience, or fly around in Jet Planes from Gaza when not being held under house arrest).

Mr. Kerry has no such agenda, no such plan for America…only a selfish single minded desire to be President borne of a sense of entitlement. I ‘d like to rationalize that that Mr. Springsteen doesn’t really support Kerry, (along with most misguided Democrats), but has simply joined the “Anybody but Bush” crowd. Maybe that’s the case, maybe not. But instead of voting Green, Libertarian, Socialist, Communist, he’s joined the fray of those seeking an “electable” opponent. (Note: the red-faced rantings of Howard Dean or the Corvair hating Ralph Nader)

Note to Yasser…you & your ilk don’t get a vote in this Election, so keep your trap shut or we’ll be happy to feed you a sand dune or two if you step out of line, you bearded peckerhead!

As for the Boss, you gotta love the guy for trying..after all, it’s part of the job of a rock star to talk about peace, love & understanding…and I’ll bet that his next album goes platinum anyway, although I’ll just wait until it appears with the rest of his friends on the Vote for Change tour…in the cutout bin.

John Barlett is a Media consultant in Wellington, Florida and can be reached at jbarlett@bellsouth.net 561-313-9921