Topic category:  Other/General

Call off the election! Bruce Springsteen has spoken. The next president of the United States should be Barack Obama, according to The Boss.

Springsteen says on his Web site that "after the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans."

Springsteen doesn't exactly have the magic touch when it comes to backing presidential candidates. Springsteen also endorsed John Kerry and Walter Mondale for president. And we all know how well that went.

"He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years," Springsteen writes on his Web site.

I own every album Springsteen has released and I don't recall any songs about rich, smooth-talking liberal politicians who attend a church led by an anti-American fanatic. I better listen to some of those early albums again.

The Springsteen songs that come to mind when I think of Barack Obama are "Brilliant Disguise" or maybe "Two Faces" or perhaps "Blinded By The Light"

Celebrity endorsements are a tricky thing. They often backfire.

Obama has the support of such far left luminaries as Jane Fonda. All that's missing to seal an Obama defeat in November is the endorsement of the Dixie Chicks.

"In terms of voting behavior, family and significant others are more influential than celebrities in engaging support for a political candidate," says Dr. Natalie Wood, a marketing expert at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia whose research on celebrity endorsements was recently published by the Journal of Political Marketing. "At first glance, it would appear that the money and time invested in celebrity support is wasteful."

Tony Phyrillas
http://tonyphyrillas.blogspot.com (Columnist)

Biography - Tony Phyrillas

Tony Phyrillas is a leading conservative political columnist and blogger based in Pennsylvania. He is a veteran journalist with 25 years experience as a reporter, editor and columnist for several newspapers. Phyrillas received recognition for column writing in 2010 from the Associated Press Managing Editors, in 2007 from Suburban Newspapers of America and in 2006 from the Society of Professional Journalists, Keystone Chapter. A graduate of Penn State University, Phyrillas is the city editor and political columnist for The Mercury, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa. In addition to The Mercury website (www.pottsmerc.com), his columns are featured on more than a dozen political websites and blogs. Phyrillas is a frequent guest (and occasional host) on talk radio and has been a panelist on the "Journalists Roundtable" public affairs TV program on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). Phyrillas was named one of the '10 Leading Greek-American Bloggers in the World' in 2007 by Odyssey: The World of Greece magazine. BlogNetNews.com ranked Phyrillas the Most Influential Political Blogger in Pennsylvania for three consecutive years (2007-2010). You can follow Phyrillas on Twitter @TonyPhyrillas