{"id":188898,"date":"2021-03-03T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T22:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=188898"},"modified":"2021-03-03T17:31:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T22:31:11","slug":"i-listened-to-barack-obama-and-bruce-springsteens-new-podcast-so-you-dont-have-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/i-listened-to-barack-obama-and-bruce-springsteens-new-podcast-so-you-dont-have-to\/","title":{"rendered":"I Listened To Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen\u2019s New Podcast, So You Don\u2019t Have to"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fi-listened-to-barack-obama-and-bruce-springsteens-new-podcast-so-you-dont-have-to%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=188898&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-625341540.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Unwilling to follow his presidential predecessors into a languid stupor after leaving office, Barack Obama\u2019s latest effort to reinject himself into the domain of public discourse comes packaged as the latest modern fad: podcasting. With the bulk of his former staffers having already convened on the digital medium to form<\/span> <em><span>Pod Save America \u2013<\/span><\/em> <span>and his wife having launched \u201cThe Michelle Obama Podcast\u201d last July \u2013<\/span> <span>the former president has one-upped them all, recruiting the venerable<\/span> <em><span>Born to Run<\/span><\/em> <span>hitmaker, Bruce Springsteen to cohost his new show, titled,<\/span> <em><span>Renegades.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>In a conversation that could comfortably be sourced from the moneyed foyer of Leonard Bernstein\u2019s Upper East Side penthouse in the pages of Tom Wolfe\u2019s<\/span> <em><span>Radical Chic<\/span><\/em><span>, the former president and Bruce Springsteen, over the first two episodes of their show, honed in on a litany of topics, though the issue of race in America seemed to dominate their conversations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Opening the discussion, Obama immediately excoriated his presidential successor, lambasting Donald Trump on every issue from race relations to the Capitol Hill riots. \u201cFor 3 years I had to watch a presidential successor who was diametrically opposed to everything I believed in. And witnessed a country that seemed to be angrier and more divided with every coming day. In the middle of all of this, there were the nation-wide protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd. Yet another tragic reminder of just how powerfully racism continues to stain so many aspects of American life. And all that was before the world witnessed a violent mob spurred on by lies and conspiracy theories storm the US Capitol, where I once served.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Through their dialogue on racial tensions in America, Obama and Springsteen conceded that despite their differences, they have always perceived their respective selves as outsiders and outcasts in society. Obama remarked in his introduction, \u201cOn the surface, Bruce and I don\u2019t have a lot in common. He\u2019s a white guy from a small town in New Jersey. I\u2019m a black guy of mixed race born in Hawaii, with a childhood that took me around the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Springsteen, in turn, explained that his own yearning to become an entertainer and stage performer stemmed from years of feeling voiceless. \u201cIf you weren\u2019t quiet you wouldn\u2019t have so desperately searched for a way to speak. The reason you have so desperately pursued your work and your language, and your voice is because you haven\u2019t had one. And you understand, you realize that, and you feel the pain of being somewhat voiceless. And so, the performance becomes the mechanism through which you express the entirety of your life, your philosophy and code for living. And that was how it came to me. And I felt previous to that, I was pretty invisible. And there was a lot of pain in that invisibility.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the conversation continued, the pair rarely strayed from dissecting in their echo chamber what Obama referred to as, \u201cthe central dilemma of America since its founding: the issue of race.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>First fiddling with race relations through the lens of art and music, Obama asked Springsteen about the impact and influence of black music in post-WW2 America. Springsteen explained that, \u201cto play south of Freehold, you had to know some soul music. Because it was called greaser territory. Grease is where the guys had \u00be length leathers, shark-skin suits, ties, hair slicked back, pointy black shoes, nylon see-through socks, all of it, taken from the black community. And that was the style, including the music that they loved\u2026 As a young musician, you are immersed in music and in the African American culture that inspired the music that you loved.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Obama added his observation on Western culture\u2019s adoption of black music, saying, \u201cthere is this notion that black folks are the other. They are demeaned, they are discriminated against, they are looked down upon. And yet the culture is constantly appropriating and regurgitating and processing the style that arises from being an outsider and knowing the blues and having suffered these scars and having to make stuff up out of nothing. And rock and roll is part of that process.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Springsteen, in agreement, took Obama\u2019s remark a step further, \u201cin America we have loved black people and brown people when they\u2019re entertaining us. But when they want to live next door, we remain a tribal society. It\u2019s part of our tragicness, that continues obviously to this day. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever been more essential a subject as it is at this very moment. And I think, why is it so hard to talk about race, why am I pausing here? To talk about race you have to talk about your differences, you have to talk about, to some degree, deconstructing the myth of the melting pot \u2014 which has never fundamentally been true. Admitting that a big part of our history has been plunderous and violent and rigged against people of color. We are ashamed; ashamed of our collective guilt. We would have to admit and to grieve for what\u2019s been done. We would have to acknowledge our own daily complicity. And to acknowledge our group membership and that we are tied to the group history of racism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As the conversation continued into the second episode, Springsteen elaborated on the formation of his famed E Street Band, and the ineffaceable, booming saxophonist, Clarence Clemons, whose iconic solos adorn and elevate such unforgettable staples in Springsteen\u2019s canon as \u201cJungleland\u201d and \u201cRosalita.\u201d \u201cThe integrated aspect of the E Street Band obviously was when I saw Clarence. Clarence was just great. He just had a sound that raised the roof, he was just one of the greatest sounding sax players I\u2019d ever heard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Meandering back to present day, Springsteen and Obama shifted the discussion to the death of George Floyd and his confrontation with police last summer. \u201cAfter George Floyd\u2019s murder, I started reading James Baldwin,\u201d Springsteen explained. Quoting a passage from Baldwin\u2019s 1963 essay compilation, The \u201cFire Next Time,\u201d the New Jersey rocker went on to endorse collectively paid reparations, saying, \u201cHere we sit today, where it feels like a reckoning is being called for. Is the country ready to deconstruct its founding myths, its mythic stories, its mythic history? Or is it prepared to consider reparations? Do you think we are at that place right now?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Obama replied in consensus, adding that in his view, America\u2019s centuries-long economic boon was largely fueled by the 89-year period of slavery between the country\u2019s founding in 1776 and the adoption of the 13<\/span><span>th<\/span> <span>Amendment in 1865. \u201cIf you ask me, theoretically, are reparations justified? The answer is yes. There\u2019s not much question that the wealth of this country, the power of this country was built in significant part \u2014 not exclusively, maybe note even the majority of it \u2014 but a large portion of it was built on the backs of slaves.\u201d Springsteen was quick to add, \u201cthey built the White House.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The former president continued, and towards the end of the show, effectively went on to blame the American public, specifically white American voters, for what Obama described as an inability to unanimously agree with his policy agenda. \u201cThis then brings us to, could you actually get that kind of justice? Could you get a country to agree and own that history? And my judgement was that as a practical matter, that was unattainable. We can\u2019t even get this country to provide decent schooling for inner-city kids. What I saw during my presidency was that the politics of white resistance and resentment, the talk of welfare queens and the talk of the undeserving poor and the backlash against affirmative action, all that made the prospect of actually proposing any kind of coherent, meaningful reparations program, struck me as politically not only a nonstarter, but potentially counter-productive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Renegades<\/span><\/em> <span>is<\/span> <span>available to stream on<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/42xagXCUDsFO6a0lcHoTlv\"><span>Spotify<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Harry Khachatrian on<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harry1T6\"><em>Twitter<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>member<\/em><\/span><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unwilling to follow his presidential predecessors into a languid stupor after leaving office, Barack Obama\u2019s latest effort to reinject himself into the domain of public discourse comes packaged as the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274709,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-625341540.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"I Listened To Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen\u2019s New Podcast, So You Don\u2019t Have to","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/GettyImages-625341540.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"I Listened To Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen\u2019s New Podcast, So You Don\u2019t Have to","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}