Springsteen rocks 80,000 for Obama

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

Legendary US rocker Bruce Springsteen wowed a crowd of 80,000 with a rousing set at a rally for Democrat Barack Obama here Sunday on the White House campaign's final stretch.

Obama took the stage with his wife Michelle and two young daughters when Springsteen was done, and said there were "a handful of people who enter into your lives through their music and tell the American people's story."

"Bruce Springsteen is one of those people," he said, before a heavy rainstorm erupted on the open-air crowd said by Cleveland's director of public safety to number 80,000.

Springsteen led the sea of people in a full-throated singalong of Woody Guthrie's folk classic "This Land is Your Land."



Read more: http://news.smh.com.au/world/springsteen-rocks-80000-for-obama-20081103-5gjw.html

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The Boss to Obama: Lead us through 'crossroads'

CLEVELAND -- No one can quite make the case like Bruce Springsteen, the eloquent lyricist, observer of America, and Jersey-bred ambassador to the working man.

Tonight he shared a stage with Barack Obama in downtown Cleveland, where 80,000 people came to see the double billing. In between stirring acoustic renditions of "This Land Is Your Land" and "The Rising," Springsteen offered a harsh indictment of President Bush's tenure, calling the Republican leadership "thoughtless" and "reckless."

"We at the crossroads," he said. "I spent most of my life as a musician measuring the distance in our music between the American dream and the American reality. And I look around today and many Americans are losing their jobs, or their homes, or seeing their retirement funds disappear, and don't have health care."

He went on, "The distance between that dream and that reality has grown greater and more painful than ever. And I believe that Senator Obama has taken a measure of that distance in his own life and in his own work."

more:http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/11/the_boss_to_oba.html

[DainBramaged]

1. Take that Gramps, you dishonorable fuck.

[jimshoes]

2. I just got home from the rally

It was amazing to see all the people unified for Obama. Springsteen was pretty good too.

[Cha]

9. I saw livestreamed on cnn and I

was fixing supper and rocking and getting pumped to the Bruce Concert and the Obama Rally. It was quite cozy on chilly evening.

I bet it super amazing in person!

[jimshoes]

10. There was excitement in the air and

it was heartwarming which helped keep everyone warm on a brisk evening near the lake.

[UpInArms]

3. rock on, Bruce, rock on!

and This is our land - and McLumpy and incompetent can go and f*** each other - but she'll have to have some vialis on hand and then give McGramps a hand - Cindy can watch and critique the arrangement (that appears to be her thing)

[OhioChick]

4. Love it.

I guess this would explain hearing the fighter jets heading downtown today. :shrug:

[latebloomer]

5. God, I would love to have been there!

Obama and Springsteen!

:loveya:

[HughBeaumont]

6. Talk about "Once in a Lifetime".

The ultimate public speaker and a true leader, Obama had the capacity crowd in the palm of his hand. Hearing Obama speak inspired this highly diverse group of working moms, veterans, teachers, librarians, black, white, poor, middle class, children, seniors, teens and adults. They all sat through drizzle and a slight chill and he made everyone laugh and applaud just by projecting the same common sense message that everyone wants to hear and wants so badly for it to come to fruition.

These people were here not because Barack Obama isn't a Republican. They were here because Barack Obama spoke to their needs, needs which have been ignored for the better part of 28 years.

Funniest moment was that it actually started drizzling after Obama made a comment about Dick Cheney endorsing McCain. "See . . . see what happens when you start talking about Dick Cheney?"

But he knows like everyone else does that bad Republican policy cannot cure worse Republican policy, no matter how much these fundies and whack-jobs and grizzled old racist bastards want to believe it to be so. You need to move in a better direction, because the same old shit will never work.

Springsteen's "Youngstown" was haunting as it was insightful. And I'm not a Springsteen fan either.

[Cha]

12. I'm even more of Springsteen fan

after tonight..thanks for your eloquent recap of the Obama/Bruce Rally/Concert in Cleveland on Nov 2, 2008.

[rg123]

7. I saw

this on CNN live it was fantastic.

[Doremus]

8. It was amazing.

The Springsteens, the Obamas and a multi-cultural slice of America -- young, old, black, white and everything in between.

The inscription on the Cleveland Convention Center, built in the 1920s, towered over the stage and served as a poignant reminder of our roots:

A monument conceived as a tribute to the ideals of Cleveland builded by her citizens and dedicated to social progress, industrial achievement and civic interest patriotism progress culture

We've strayed far from these ideals but a new ship of state is going to correct our course.

YES IT WILL!!!


:grouphug: :kick: :grouphug:

[AnOhioan]

11. 80K in Cleveland, 60K in Columbus earlier today

The numbers from Cincinnati will be added to what has been a very good day for Obama.

[maddezmom]

13. Ohio Baracks

:D :hi:

[the808]

14. So PROUD

to be a Jersey Girl living in Hawaii!

[olddad56]

15. Once again Springsteen proves why he is and always will be 'The Boss'

[Berry Cool]

16. It was an incredible event. My feet and my whole body will hurt from standing so long

but it was worth it. I knew the only way to have a chance to get in was to walk about 20 minutes to catch a bus to get downtown around noon, even though it wasn't supposed to open until 2. Then the lines to get in snaked all over the city, and I ended up in line not from noon to 2, but from noon to 3:45 pm. Ouch. But it was just amazing to be there.

[FlaGranny]

17. Barack seemed

to be really enjoying himself. I never saw him quite like that before at one of his events. He was really having fun.

[Kolesar]

18. That Boston Globe excerpt was the best! ... eom