Better To Get America Onto Its Feet

One joyful day amid the prevailing gloom -- friends, munchies, a great football game -- and Stephen Metcalf thinks Bruce Springsteen, at halftime in the Super Bowl, should've made like Woody Guthrie in the dust bowl:

Springsteen would have put America on its ass—its mind shortly to follow—had he strolled out with a Martin and played "The Wrestler." (And how about a nice "This one's for Danny," aka Danny Federici, the recently deceased keyboardist who was with Bruce for more than 40 years?) The national mood is sober bordering on a galloping panic. Lively as he was, I wouldn't say the Boss did much to either banish or capture it.

Pretty soon I'm going to start wondering why the media seem not to want us to cheer up. Gloomy, anxious people don't want to spend money. Hey, Stephen: Download Bruce's new CD, and then go buy a pickup truck.