Bill Clinton today opened for Bruce Springsteen at a rally to support President Barack Obama‘s re-election. “This is the first time in my life I ever got to be the warm-up act for Bruce Springsteen,” Clinton — who enjoys a tremendously high approval rating himself — said, introducing “The Boss” as “one of the coolest dudes I ever met, and a guy who reflects our real American values.”
Springsteen responded by saying that following Bill Clinton is “like following Elvis.” Springsteen added, “If he had only brought that saxaphone, you’d have seen a real jam up here.” Clinton, by the way, is no stranger to the music scene.
Springsteen is a long-time same-sex marriage supporter.
The rally of 3000 Obama supporters was held in in Parma, Ohio — a must-win state for the President.
The L.A. Times reported that “Springsteen recalled the night of Obama’s election in 2008 as ‘an evening when you can feel the locked doors of the past finally being blown open to new possibilities. But then — then comes a hard daily struggle to make those possibilities real in a world that is brutally resistant to change,’ he said.”
After paying tribute to Obama for the auto industry’s recovery (“I’m thankful GM is still making cars. What else would I write about? I’d have no job without that”), the rock star said he feared Romney would widen the disparity between the rich and “everyday citizens.” Many would end up as “just the scenery in another man’s play,” he said, quoting from his song “Jackson Cage.”
“I’m here today because I’ve lived long enough to know that despite those galvanizing moments in history, the future is rarely a tide rushing in,” Springsteen said. “It’s often a slow march, inch by inch, day after long day, and I believe we are in the midst of those long days right now. And I’m here today because I believe President Obama feels those days in his bones, for all the 100 percent of us.”
With that, Springsteen began strumming his guitar and singing “Promised Land.” He went on to perform “Youngstown,” “We Take Care of Our Own,” “This Land is Your Land” and “Thunder Road,” along with a new call-and-response tune that he wrote based on Obama’s campaign slogan, “Forward.”