Thirty-five years ago yesterday, “Born in the USA” was released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Kyle Smith makes the case that it did more than most things to ensure the *other* great event of that year, Ronald Reagan’s re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the whole thing – but I’ll give you the conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMorning in America,\u201d the title of a corny TV commercial, was often described as Reagan\u2019s all-but-official reelection theme. Really it was \u201cBorn in the U.S.A.\u201d There is only one upbeat line in it, but it\u2019s the last one Springsteen sang: \u201cI\u2019m a cool rockin\u2019 daddy in the U.S.A.\u201d Despite everything he\u2019s endured, the narrator is still rockin\u2019, still cool. Even those who paid close attention to the lyrics of the accidental anthem could take from it this: Dark as things got in a previous era, this is a new generation. The draft is no more. We have shaken off the pall of Vietnam. We are back. We are Americans, and it\u2019s time to shout it out loud again. We were born in the U.S.A.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t be tired and bored with yourself. Just read it<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n