# Should Obama use "Born in the USA" as a re-elect theme song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 18, 2012, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297 "2012-05-18T08:38:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/21 "2012-05-18T16:08:37Z")
[hijack] If the [_Working Families Party_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Families_Party) or something like it ever takes off at the national level, to the point of having any use for a song, its song should be, “Time Is On **My** Side.” [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/22 "2012-05-18T16:13:05Z")
[_Chocolate to the Bone._](http://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Bone-Barbecue-Bob/dp/B000000G8H) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/23 "2012-05-18T16:38:36Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > What? You think the Pubbies will look beyond the title? And point out subtleties in the lyrics? They’ll simply go nuts from the audacity of Obama’s association with the idea of “Born in the USA.” > > And if they DO raise the lyrics, he can just point out that Saint Ronnie tried to use it in '84, and no one on the right argued that the song was anti-patriotic then. Win/win. Thing is, it’s my understanding that campaign rally music is primarily to pump up the energy level for one’s _supporters_. I would hope that President Obama’s supporters are more likely to listen to the lyrics than are Gov. Romney’s. I’d prefer that the campaign not use the song. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/24 "2012-05-19T02:17:07Z")
While I think it’s a really bad song for a political campaign, you gotta admit, it WOULD really tweek the Birthers. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/25 "2012-05-19T02:23:20Z")
I’d prefer he used a good song. I’m on board with the P-Funk suggestions. Better songs and probably more red meat to the Tea Partiers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/26 "2012-05-19T02:25:59Z")
Well, “The Internationale” is long out of copyright, isn’t it? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/27 "2012-05-19T03:27:16Z")
Well the Obama campaign does have a little fun with the paranoid conspiracy theorists. One of their mugs displays the long form birth certificate. 😃 [https://store.barackobama.com/made-in-the-usa-mug.html](https://store.barackobama.com/made-in-the-usa-mug.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/28 "2012-05-19T05:15:42Z")
Oh, let’s just lose all subtlety. _Cult of Personality_ But only if at the very end of the song, he does exactly what I do. It has Winston Churchill’s line “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. After which I always add, in my best Winston Churchill voice… “and spiders”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/29 "2012-05-19T05:19:42Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Oh, let’s just lose all subtlety. > > _Cult of Personality_ Or given the significant percentage of Republicans who think he might be the Antichrist, perhaps some Latin chanting, and red under-lighting at the podium. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/30 "2012-05-19T05:34:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Or given the significant percentage of Republicans who think he might be the Antichrist, perhaps some Latin chanting, and red under-lighting at the podium. That’s it! The theme song! [_Ave Satani!_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave_Satani)😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/31 "2012-05-19T06:20:35Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > It has Winston Churchill’s line “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. Winston Churchill? It was FD Roosevelt, first paragraph of his [1933 Inaugural Address](http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres49.html). [QUOTE=FDR] So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/32 "2012-05-20T19:22:50Z")
Huh, I didn’t even realize that **Fear Itself** was running. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/33 "2012-05-20T20:19:05Z")
Anyways, Honolulu is no “dead man town.” ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/34 "2012-05-23T02:51:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, I didn’t even realize that **Fear Itself** was running. Santorum dropped. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/35 "2012-05-23T22:16:09Z")
“Shaft” theme song. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/36 "2012-05-23T23:02:33Z")
He should use Beyonce’s version of “God Bless the USA!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/37 "2012-05-23T23:28:40Z")
I think he should stick with “Hail to the Chief”. Romney can’t top him on that one. But he can use James Garner’s lyrics: “Hail to the Chief If you don’t I’ll have to kill you I am the Chief So you better watch your step, you bastards” ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297/38 "2012-05-25T15:49:49Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, I didn’t even realize that **Fear Itself** was running. I’m on the Dark Horse ticket. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-obama-use-born-in-the-usa-as-a-re-elect-theme-song/622297.md?page=1)