In November 1980, when the LRB was still in its infancy, barely a year old and only six months independent of the New York Review, Ronald Reagan didn't simply take the US presidency from Jimmy Carter: he also, as Danny Goldberg argues in Dispatches from the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit (Miramax, $23.95), wrested political access to pop culture from the Democrats. Reagan overstepped the mark in 1984, however, when he tried to appropriate Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' as the anthem of his re-election campaign, having failed to pay attention either to the song's lyrics (which are kind of ironic) or to the general thrust of Springsteen's blue-collar rock. Bob Dole, having failed to pay attention to Reagan's mistake, wanted to use the song during his unsuccessful campaign in 1988. Springsteen, co-opting a slogan of Nancy Reagan's, just said no.

LRB 21 October 2004 | PDF Download