In 2009 and again in 2011, President and Mrs. Obama hosted a series of concerts in the East Room of the White House, each one showcasing a different genre of contemporary American music. In the July 2009 concert, country star Brad Paisley debuted his new single "Welcome to the Future," which your Head Trucker thinks ought to be counted one of the all-time great country songs: full of hope, optimism, love of country and of our fellow human beings.
The song and video together constitute a brilliant work of homegrown American art - celebrated in the White House by a President, and not for his own glory. At that time, we still had hope, the country was still holding together, and the misty future seemed a green and pleasant land.
But here in this gray, grim, and ghastly future, this performance makes me weep for our country and the world - for several reasons. Do I really have to explain why?
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