Hello Cleveland

Bruce Springsteen delivered these remarks on Sunday in Cleveland. We thought they were especially appropriate for today.

It's great to be here today among friends. I'd like to thank Senator Obama and his folks for inviting me. I've been here many times since 1973, but never on a day as glorious as this one. We are at the crossroads.

I've spent 35 years writing about America and its people. What does it mean to be an American? What are our duties, our responsibilities, our reasonable expectations when we live in a free society? I saw myself less as a partisan for any particular political party, than as an advocate for a set of ideas. Economic and social justice, America as a positive influence around the world. Truth, transparency and integrity in government. The right of every American to a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, to a life filled with the dignity of work, promise, and the sanctity of home. These are the things that make a life, that build and define a society. These are the things we think of on the deepest level, when we refer to our freedoms. Today those freedoms have been damaged, and curtailed by eight years of a thoughtless, reckless, and morally adrift administration.

I spent most of my life as a musician measuring the distance between the American dream and American reality. For many Americans who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no health care, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that dream and their reality has never been greater or more painful. I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and work. I believe he understands in his heart the cost of that distance in blood and suffering in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president he would work to bring that dream back to life, and into the lives of many of our fellow Americans, who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning.

In my job, I travel around the world, and occasionally play in big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I continue to find everywhere I go that America remains a repository for people's hopes and desires. That despite the terrible erosion of our standing around the world, for many we remain a house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down. That is something only we can do, and we're not going to let that happen.

This administration will be leaving office, dumping in our laps the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis. Our house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power, influence or a quick buck. It needs strong arms, hearts and minds. It needs someone with Senator Obama's understanding, temperateness, deliberativeness, maturity, pragmatism, toughness and faith. But most of all it needs us. You and me. All a nation has that keeps it from coming apart is the social contract between its' citizens. Whatever grace God has deemed to impart to us resides in our connections with one another, in honoring the life, the hopes, the dreams, of the man or woman up the street, or across town. That's where we make our small claim upon heaven. In recent years that contract has been shredded and as we look around today, it is shredding before our eyes. But today we are at the crossroads.

I'm honored to be here on the same stage as Senator Obama. From the beginning, there has been something in Senator Obama that has called upon our better angels, I suspect, because he has had a life where he has so often had to call upon his. We're going to need all the angels we can get on the hard road ahead. Senator Obama helped us rebuild our house big enough for the dreams of all our citizens. For how well we accomplish this task will tell us what it means to be an American in the new century, what's at stake, and what it means to live in a free society. So I don't know about you, but I want my country back, I want my dream back, I want my America back. Now is the time to stand together with Barack Obama and Joe Biden and the millions of Americans that are hungry for a new day, roll up our sleeves and come on up for the rising.

Comments

[SJH]

Beautiful, powerful words by Springsteen. These are the kind of speeches that Democratic CANDIDATES should be giving!! Touching the emotions, the heart. ( For more on this subject, read Drew Westen's "The Political Brain" -- a highly recommended book by psychologist explaining how Democrats can win by appealing to our emotions).

Remember all those GOP references to the "Real America"? Well, to this American, no one better expresses the voice of the Real America than Bruce Springsteen. And guess what, Sarah Palin? He's a Democrat!!!

Love ya, Bruce.

[alicetilden]

Well said, Bruce. You have a beautiful mind.

[DWHarper]

Perhaps the Right Wing will dismiss Bruce as just another celebrity who is speaking out of turn on the politics of our time and while I believe that there are those "stars" who should keep their mouth shut, Bruce is not one. He is a poet laureate of our nation and should speak out as the canary in a coal mine warning of disaster. Folk heroes like Bruce are obligated to speak for America because they ARE America and how we define ourselves.

[newdreams]

Bruce - Your words and your family's presence during the election campaign did more than you'll ever know to help people realize the importance of getting out to vote. You were an integral part of history in the making, and it never sounded so good! Thank you!

[debbiefromohio]

I was in Cleveland on Sunday Bruce & you rocked! Thank you & your family for coming out to support Barack it was a wonderful experience to be in the crowd of 80,000 people. People were patient (some of us were there for hours) & the absolute hope for a better day just radiated from this crowd. I wish everyone would realize that we all need to work together & stop dividing us into pockets of hatred, fear & distrust. We are all better than this. We can work together regardless of our differences. Thank you Bruce!

[imememine]

Bruce Springsteen is a true patriot son of this country. We are the home of the free and home of the brave, led by patriots that have not yielded to the hate, fear and greed that has blemished this great nation over the past 8 years,

[RS20JS]

"I spent most of my life as a musician measuring the distance between the American dream and American reality. "

This says it all.

[ohioan73]

HELLO BRUCE!! :D

I'm a life-long Clevelander!!! I grew up watching Bruce dance with Courtney Cox on MTV, and had a good laugh when Reagan misused his great song "Born in the USA". Bruce IS Cleveland. Anybody of the guys in my neighborhood could be Bruce. That's what I love about him.

The same way Ohio's electoral votes are a barometer for who's gonna win the presidency is the same way Cleveland is the barometer for the economic overview of the USA. When we don't have jobs, nobody else has jobs. When our education standard falls, the entire country's not far behind. When steel and auto and rubber plants close, we are there rusting and jobless.

We are the last stop to Northern Liberalville. Bordered by bluish PA and deep red IN and WV, we feel the most racial tension because we are blue city surrounded by a pinkish state. This is a literal and proverbial battleground for race relations. We get all seasons from dead heat summer to below zero winters.

Screw Sarah Palin. Cleveland is a blue city and it is the realest America. The Heartland.

[Louee]

Thanks Bruce. You've spoken for us in our darkest hours and now in our brightest days. Through these dark years I've argued with my down-hearted friends and family that this is my country and I'm not gonna let the bastards take it from me! After last night, there's a lightening of the spirit that has enveloped us. I actually went outside to dance in the streets when I heard the announcement of the victory I've been praying for (even though I was all by myself). To Bruce, Obama and all you HuffPosters who have kept the faith through this long dark American night, I want to say thanks for being there. And congratulations to every African American on a great victory, for you and for all Americans!!!!!

[meltingpot101]

BRUUUUUUUCE,

I Love You and the joy and affirmation I find in your support for President Elect Barack Obama is beyond measure.

Thank You soo much Bruce for campaigning your ass off and lending your voice and reputation for such an important election.

You have made an even bigger difference.

[Mahi Joe]

WOW! I am truly impressed by his words. Bruce you rock!

[clevelandchick]

HEELLLOOOO BRUCE!!!!!!

I was there to see you last Sunday and I sang along with you and 80,000 tired beat down yet hopeful Clevelanders to 'This Land Is Your Land' for the first time since I think I was a kid, I couldn't believe that I actually remembered every verse.

This land IS our land. We took America back. Thank you for supporting Obama and thank you for your voice. We love you here. Now of course, we have to get to work fixing it, he's going to need our help.

[Aramingo]

I met you in a bar in 1973 and told you that on "Greetings From Asbury Park" you really told the truth. The only way you've changed in the intervening years is you've gotten BETTER at it.

Now that I have my country back, my sleeves are rolled up, and I'm ready to rip.

[vietveter]

A true American poet.

[MPeter]

Hello BOOOSSSSS!!! Thank you for your support. Thank you for your activism. Thank you for helping us realize this moment. It is a great moment. It is historical. It is earth-shattering. Thank You Boss.

[Caddisfly]

Thank you Bruce. I nodded in agreement through your post. Rolling up my sleeves now.