It can’t be easy to follow a speech by a former president, so The Boss didn’t try to.
After former President Barack Obama finished a rousing oration on the mission of the just-opened Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side, Bruce Springsteen walked onto the stage with a somewhat sheepish look on his face. “Hi, I’m Bruce,” he told the crowd of a few hundred VIPs on the grounds of the center and several thousand at a public watch party a few blocks away.
He then launched into an acoustic performance of “Land of Hope and Dreams,” in keeping with the theme of the day. Speeches by Barack and Michelle Obama, Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett and others emphasized that the center, which opens to the public Friday, isn’t just about celebrating Barack Obama’s two terms as president, but rather highlighting the people who do the ground-level work of democracy and try to ensure the United States lives up to its ideals.
The former president even made a joke about it in his speech: “If you come [to the center] for a day and don’t have time to see everything, I would urge you to skip the clips of my speeches,” he said. “You’ve seen them all before.” Instead, he suggested that visitors pay attention to the stories of the community leaders and activists the center will spotlight.
