Presidential Election 2008: Campaign Songs and Controversy

Popular music and politics often collide. The government plays a large role in the censoring of much popular music, yet political candidates still use popular music to connect with audiences. Sometimes, the artists themselves use their fame to promote a political agenda. The 2008 presidential campaign will provide examples of the sticky political situations that can occur when politics meets popular culture.

Republican candidate John McCain was sued after the 2008 election after his campaign used the Jackson Browne song “Running on Empty” in an ad criticizing Barack Obama’s energy policy. Browne claimed that the song was used without his permission, and was therefore a copyright infringement.



Here, the McCain campaign was using a popular song strategically, presumably as a source of mockery, as the title of the song and topic of the ad suggest. Using such a widely known song would also help connect McCain to fans of Browne through association. Browne’s protests lay in the fact that he did not support McCain as a candidate and did not want his song, or his “property,” to be used to McCain’s advantage.

In another example on the same ticket, the writer of the Martina McBride song “Independence Day,” Gretchen Peters, was unhappy with the use of her song to bring Sarah Palin onstage at a rally after her debate with Joe Biden.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/soundboard/2008/10/independence-da.htm

"The fact that the McCain/Palin campaign is using a song about an abused woman as a rallying cry for their vice presidential candidate, a woman who would ban abortion even in cases of rape and incest, is beyond irony," Peters said. "They are co-opting the song, completely overlooking the context and message, and using it to promote a candidate who would set women's rights back decades.”

This case was not a copyright infringement, since Peters did receive royalties from the use of her song. As a form of protest toward the McCain/Palin campaign, however, she began donating royalties for the song to Planned Parenthood – in Palin’s name.
This situation, therefore, represents both the strategic use of a popular song in a campaign as well as a celebrity using her fame to speak out against a candidate.

These two situations within the McCain/Palin campaign are reflective of when Ronald Reagan used Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” for his campaign. In this case, as in the ones mentioned above, the artist felt that his song had been misinterpreted and was unhappy with the association of his name with a particular political candidate.

The issues that the candidates had with popular music in their campaigns were not limited to the Republicans. A Ludacris song entitled “’Politics’ (Obama is Here),” which contained offensive lyrics, caused some trouble for Barack Obama’s campaign. In this case, it wasn’t a song that the candidate had used for his campaign, but rather a tribute by a celebrity that supported Obama. At a time when critics were questioning some of Obama’s past relationships, the fact that Obama had stated his respect for Ludacris’s talent before the song was released caused Sean Hannity to insinuate that Obama was a black radical.



This is an example of a celebrity using his music to express political allegiance and exploiting his fame “to endorse political positions and candidates.” This song also happens to support a liberal and progressive candidate, as the textbook says is typical among messages when popular music meets politics. However, the song also uses misogynistic and racist language, which reflects poorly on the candidate, Barack Obama.

The association that Hannity made, Ludacris’s song reflecting Obama’s radicalism, is an example of this poor reflection. Obama did not have anything to do with the song’s creation and his campaign was quick to denounce the song. However, speculation about the controversial song continued and may have hurt his campaign.
Politics and popular music often meet, sometimes due to a candidate trying to appeal to voters, and sometimes due to a celebrity musician using his or her fame to influence public opinion. This can be helpful or harmful, and often, the people involved can get themselves into some difficult situations when someone feels that a line has been crossed.