A lot of factors go into selecting a candidate when voters step behind the curtain and cast their ballot for president, but probably the least determinative consideration is their chosen politician's favorite music. Even in this election season, where the intangible quality of "electability" is supposedly what counts, rarely have exit polls reported that people voted for John Edwards because they too are huge Bruce Springsteen fans.
Still, the musical preferences of this year's Democratic presidential candidates oddly parallel the standings of the candidates themselves. Coincidence? Not entirely. Particularly when it comes to picking what songs to play before each campaign stop, the more effective the music, the more it reveals about the candidate's message. Overall, the soundtrack to the candidates' campaigns offers insight about the men who could be president.
Two weeks ago, the Associated Press asked the candidates the innocuous question of what album they would most like to have in their CD player. John Kerry picked the Beatles' Abbey Road, widely considered one of the best albums of all time, which matches up nicely with his broad appeal and current role as the likely recipient of the Democratic nomination. Similarly, John Edwards picked The Essential Bruce Springsteen, another safe bet. Not to be outdone, Howard Dean offered the relatively unusual pick of any music by Wyclef Jean. Dean's selection is still far more hip than any of his fellow "outsider" candidates' choices, a position Dean himself occupies. In fact, with their selections of music by Willie Nelson and Yolanda Adams, Kucinich and Sharpton have unintentionally chosen music whose obscurity parallels their slim chances of receiving the party's nomination. Joe Lieberman chose Andrea Bocelli--look where that got him.
However, the simple corollary between the popularity of the candidates' music and the candidates themselves breaks down when you consider the music each candidate chooses to play before campaign appearances. Here the music is selected to convey a certain message, and that role makes the actual songs selected that much more important. Once again, in terms of effectiveness, Kerry seems to be leading the pack, hijacking the music of fellow presidential hopeful John Edwards' favorite artist and horning in on Bush's post-9/11 claim to fame with Springsteen's "The Rising" and "No Surrender."
This concern for effectiveness in a landscape of often deceitful pop songs also means that the potential for an embarrassing mistake along the lines of playing "Every Breath You Take" at a wedding is always present. In 1984, Ronald Reagan erroneously chose to play Springsteen's anti-American "Born in the USA." This year's victim of lyrical deceit could possibly be Howard Dean, who is apparently toting out the beautiful-misery anthems of "Bittersweet Symphony" and "Beautiful Day." Even one of his "Scream remixes" would have worked better than his apparent pledge of happiness amidst destruction.
Nonetheless, as interesting and amusing as it may be to follow the candidates' song selections, their musical taste alone is certainly not indicative of their ability to win the White House. After all, Wesley Clark's frequent references to OutKast haven't given his candidacy the same sort of spike that they may have given the group's sales. Yet such musical soundbites have garnered him more media attention than his platform has. Perhaps this is the problem; it seems that when it comes to campaign songs, the goal should be to complement one's message--not define it.
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