Michael Smerconish: Gaming the iPod primary
9.18.08
WHAT'S on your iPod? It's a great way to get a quick snapshot of somebody's cultural temperature and political leanings.
Bach or Beck? Franz Schubert or Franz Ferdinand? Moby or Toby Keith? Tell me, and I can size you up . . . in an
iPod-nanosecond.
Show me a guy whose playlist is weighted with Rascal Flatts and Vince Gill, and I think can predict his choice for president. And I'd wager that the guy who has downloaded the entire Jay-Z catalog is not likely to be ga-ga for Sarah.
So I was intrigued when Blender magazine asked Sens. Obama and McCain to name their top-10 songs. Unfortunately, they gave the candidates far too much time to triangulate their responses. I suspect their selections were more heavily influenced by polls than the candidates themselves. Look at John McCain's alleged favorites:
1. "Dancing Queen," ABBA.
2. "Blue Bayou," Roy Orbison.
3. "Take a Chance on Me," ABBA.
4. "If We Make It Through December," Merle Haggard.
5. "As Time Goes By," Dooley Wilson.
6. "Good Vibrations," Beach Boys.
7. "What a Wonderful World," Louis Armstrong.
8. "I've Got You Under My Skin," Frank Sinatra.
9. "Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond.
10. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," The Platters.
I refuse to believe that 20 percent of McCain's top 10 consists of ABBA. I bet he'd rather spend another five years in the Hanoi Hilton than another four minutes of "Dancing Queen."
But you don't need to be Karl Rove to see the political calculation at work. ABBA suggests a man so confident about his masculinity that he'd be willing to see "Mamma Mia!" if Cindy asked him. Maybe it's a deliberate appeal to female voters.
And to those who question his temperament, what else could explain the Beach Boys? Maybe by saying he enjoys "Good Vibrations," he's trying to assure us that he's no hothead.
I get the outreach to Italian-Americans and voters of a certain age in his choice of Sinatra, but why would a melanoma survivor remind us that "I've Got You Under My Skin"? And given McCain's marital history, why if you are going with Neil Diamond did they choose "Sweet Caroline" when "I Am I Said" would have been perfectly acceptable?
If McCain's handlers were smart, they would have bagged ABBA and the Beach Boys and gone with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the most transgenerationally cool band on the planet.
"My Friends" incorporates McCain's most frequently recited greeting and should have been at the top of his list. And why Merle Haggard? If McCain wants red-state cred, he should have gone with Lynyrd Skynyrd. You want a Southern strategy? Play "Free Bird."
If McCain is serious about taking Michigan, he should have gone straight to Kid Rock, even if it meant leapfrogging over Bob Seger. This would not be such a stretch.
If Team McCain was able to convince the local soccer moms that a decorated war hero meanders his way through the local Acme humming "Dancing Queen," he can easily convince America that McCain has his car windows open and is blasting "Bawitdaba."
The playlist offered by Obama's handlers was equally contrived. Here's what they claim the senator from Illinois enjoys.
1. "Ready or Not," Fugees.
2. "What's Going On," Marvin Gaye.
3. "I'm on Fire," Bruce Springsteen.
4. "Gimme Shelter," Rolling Stones.
5. "Sinnerman," Nina Simone.
6. "Touch the Sky," Kanye West.
7. "You'd Be So Easy to Love," Frank Sinatra.
8. "Think," Aretha Franklin.
9. "City of Blinding Lights," U2.
10. "Yes We Can," will.i.am.
It's all very safe stuff in a Cliff Huxtable kind of way.
Surely, anybody who listens to Sinatra would never knowingly agree with the likes of Bill Ayers. And Obama has his R&B bases covered with Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin, but he's telling us he's hip enough to listen to the Fugees and Kanye West, too.
And just when you think he's being too Afrocentric, his team pulls out Keith Richards, Bono and the Boss. It's all too demographically correct and commercially contrived for me.
If this is a new kind of politics, I'm Casey Kasem.
Beyond the artists, there are the songs. With all of the smears and rumors about Obama's upbringing, why did he choose "I'm on Fire" when "Born In the U.S.A." was available? Why did he go with Kanye West when Nelly was more demographically expedient? (Isn't Nellyville in the swing state of Missouri?)
Perhaps Obama's camp created this list when he was riding high in the polls with dreams of a 50- state strategy. But given Obama's deficit among white working men, his staff should have tried a shoutout to Johnny Cash. "The Man Comes Around" would have been a credible overture to the good ol' boys even though they'll probably never vote for him anyway.
And where are the "change" songs? I can rattle them off songs without even, as John McCain says, "doing a Google."
Why didn't he include "I Can Change" by John Legend, "Changes" by Bowie, or "I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After?
Come to think of it, if Obama had chosen "Change Partners," he could have simultaneously nailed down the Sinatra vote and the "change" demographic. *
Listen to Michael Smerconish weekdays 5-9 a.m. on the Big Talker, 1210/AM. Read him Sundays in the Inquirer. Contact him via the Web at www.mastalk.com.