President Barack Obama is being lauded for his "mastery" of social media with the release of his campaign's Spotify song list on Twitter. Somewhere, Hillary Clinton must be seething.
Obama on Thursday tweeted a link to a Spotify playlist that includes songs by U2, Aretha Franklin, Dierks Bentley, No Doubt, Wilco, and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Wait, Dierks Bentley?
"A little Wilco, a bit of No Doubt—check out what else made it onto the new official #Obama2012 campaign playlist," the president wrote on his official Twitter account. Reactions by the press were favorable, to say the least.
"[W]ith the 2012 election season upon us, Obama is showing he still gets it with the release of a subscribe-able 28-track Spotify playlist," opined VentureBeat's Sean Ludwig.
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"Smart move, Mr. Commander In-Chief," gushed The Verge's Paul Miller.
Contrast that praise with the snickering Clinton received when she released her own iPod playlist (remember those?) back in 2006. Slate's Jacob Weisberg offered up this illustrative take on the senator's taste in music:
"Hillary Clinton is the least spontaneous of politicians, and this playlist suggests premeditation, if not actual poll-testing," Weisberg chided. "She first indicates that she basically likes everything before coming to roost on classic rock and soul, which any baby boomer must identify with, lest she or he be branded terminally uncool. Hillary avoids, however, anything too racy, druggie, or aggressive, while naming tunes that are empowering and inspirational."
Clinton's list was immediately fingered as the product of a focus group, but we're supposed to believe that Obama really listens to Dierks Bentley? We're not even sure if Dierks Bentley listens to Dierks Bentley, but okay.