The president has his re-election soundtrack all queued up. What can we learn about Obama’s 2012 strategy by analyzing his 28 musical picks?
Presidents have chosen campaign theme songs since the era of John Adams. As of Thursday, President Obama has himself a whole playlist, available via online social music service Spotify. Obama, or more likely one of his aides, chose 28 songs that any Spotify user can listen to, and that attendees of Obama campaign rallies will inevitably hear. He essentially made Americans a mix tape, says Chris Richards in The Washington Post, “a collection of songs designed to make the recipient fall in love with the sender.” Except, instead of a single romantic target, the president is wooing “a vast and varied electorate.” So, what does the song selection tell us about the Obama-Biden 2012 strategy? Here, seven interpretations:
1. Obama’s trying to hit all key demographics
Obama’s “the first candidate to have waged a truly effective social media-based presidential campaign,” says Devon Maloney in Spin. So it’s no surprise he embraced Spotify, or that his eclectic mix “basically represents the president’s entire constituency.” The baby boomers get a little James Taylor, Gen X gets some U2 and REO Speedwagon, and “people with questionable taste everywhere” get ex-Hootie frontman Darius Rucker, says Nitasha Tiku in BetaBeat. The indie rock selections, from the likes of Arcade Fire, are “a blatant pander to twenty-somethings,” adds David A. Graham in The Atlantic. And Wilco? “Dad-rockers are basically Obama’s key demographic: Well-to-do, suburban, educated, and (probably) moderate Democrats politically.”