Renegades

Sharing my learnings from the book, Renegades by Barack Obama & Bruce Springsteen

Renegades by Barack Obama & Bruce Springsteen

RENEGADES: BORN IN THE USA is a candid, revealing, and entertaining dialogue between President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that explores everything from their origin stories and career-defining moments to our country’s polarized politics and the growing distance between the American Dream and the American reality. Filled with full-color photographs and rare archival material, it is a compelling and beautifully illustrated portrait of two outsiders— one Black and one white—looking for a way to connect their unconventional searches for meaning, identity, and community with the American story itself.

• This book documents intimate conversations between former US president Obama and musician Springsteen. They delved into some of the issues that have defined their careers (American identity, fatherhood, class/racial divides), wrestling with the past and maintaining hope for the future. These conversations became podcast then turned into a book.
• What drew these 2 men to one another is a shared commitment to being honest about America’s problems and pointing the country toward a better future.
• American identity
  • born on the opposite sides of the country (Springsteen – New Jersey & Obama – Hawaii)
  • Both were raised by a strong mother.
• class/racial divides
  • In Hawaii, there weren’t many people who looked like Obama and he felt like an outside.
  • Springsteen was surrounded by people who more or less resembled him and he also felt like a misfit. Other children had more structure, stability and guidance. Their lives were governed by rules – Springsteen’s life lacked it.
• wrestling with the past
  • In what was called the “long hot summer of ‘67”, violet riots broke out in cities across America. There were riots in Newark, New Jersey and spilled into Springsteen’s hometown. Springsteen was 17 at the time but he still remembers their arrival.
  • In Asbury Park, a neighboring town, the black population was all but barred from getting work. Yet, for a couple of years around 1974, Springsteen’s band, the E Street Band was half Black and half White. One of those guys was Daley Sancious, he was black and he’d earned his place by standing in front of a white audience at the upstage club and blowing everyone away.
  • By the mid-70s, both Obama & Springsteen knew that something was going on in America. There was a general sense that in the Vietnam war, America had lost both its innocence and moral righteousness. The race riots & the watergate scandal made this loss more apparent still.
  • Springsteen wanted to write about about it. In a way, Springsteen helped define the American that he attempted to portray in his music. This personal vision of America is another thing both Springsteen and Obama have in common. What Bruce does with music, Barack does with politics. They both love their country and they’re what Omaha calls “critical patriots.”
• American Values
  • Making money was never the goal for Springstreen and Obama. When Barack told people that his post-college ambition was to become a community organizer, the common response was polite confusion. Springsteen experienced the peak of his commercial success in the 1980s. Money was pouring in but Springsteen felt conflicted about his newfound wreath. Instead of happiness, there was a fair amount of hatred & guilt.
  • Though Springsteen is around 10 years older than Obama, both are well aware of the harmful changes that occurred during the Regan era, when people began to value money above all else.
  • Both men knew that valuing money does not bring feelings of satisfaction and wholeness in life. There are other ways, music is one, politics is another. Life satisfaction and fulfillment can be found elsewhere, being a good friend/a good neighbor/valued member of the community.
• The men they want to be
  • Now, men aren’t only shaped by societal models. They’re also shaped by the form of masculinity that their fathers model. But both Obama and Springsteen missed out on this modeling for the most part.
  • In 1984, Patti Scialfa joined the E Street Band and in 1991, after a long courtship that required Springsteen to become comfortable with the idea of change, they got married. Scialfa was a positive influence, if he allowed it to happen, she could help him achieve the wholeness he was after.
  • Obama, was used to having strong opinionated women in his life (i.e., his mom & grandma). So he expected women to challenge him and thaat’s what made Michelle Obama so attracted to him. Michelle never shied away from pushing Obama to ask himself important questions.
  • It’s a shame – both men agree – that even though America has begun to question the legitimacy of the John Wayne-style male role model, a lot of these expectations still persist.
• Breaking through the filter
  • Obama and Springsteen are striving to tell a new kind of American story through music and through politics. These 2 guys want to bring together a divided country and help the nation rise up as a whole.
  • entire communities can have a filter that is so powerful that even the president of the United States – quite literally isn’t heard unless he shows up in person. Can a message of unification penetrate this filter and actually success?
  • There are reasons to be hopeful. Obama points to the fact that, in the last election, voters aged 35 and under were overwhelmingly in favor of the united vision of America. So even though the America we see today seems to be defined by division, maybe the America of the future will be better and brighter and more unified.
• The Greatest American Heroes
  • during these conversations, Springsteen and Obama spent a good deal of time talking about their shared love of music. This led to a discussion of heroes, both musical and others.
  • For Springsteen, it starts with Bob Dylan. He always tried to keep innovating. He also mentioned Pablo Picasso (similar to Dylan-innovation) and James Brown (hip hop)
  • For Obama, it starts with Ray Charles. He considers Ray’s rendition of “America the Beautiful” to be the unofficial anthem of the U.S. Omaha also mentioned Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.
  • Outside of Music, both men mentioned a couple of people: Muhammad Ali (boxer), Jackie Robinson (make white people see black people differently), Martin Luther King Jr (renowned heroes), Malcolm X, Bob Moses, Ella Baker, C.T. Vivian, Fred Shuttlesworth (civil rights movement), Abraham Lincoln (one of America’s greatest writers)