Haggard’s latest sings out against Bush, Iraq
Y ou know President Bush is in trouble over Iraq when his most startling critic isn’t Murtha, but Merle.
That would be Merle Haggard, country music legend, working man’s troubadour and unabashed patriot, whose Vietnam-era songs like “Fightin’ Side of Me” spryly poked a stick in the eye of anti-war protesters:
“I read about some squirrely guy
Who claims, he just don’t believe in fightin’
An’ I wonder just how long
The rest of us can count on bein’ free”
Translation: This is no cut-and-run coward. In fact, for decades, Haggard has consistently voiced support for America’s fighting men and women. And with his craggy face and warm chestnut voice, he’s a far cry from a falsetto-piped showbiz pretty boy.
So I was intrigued when I cranked up the radio to hear Haggard’s latest over the Thanksgiving holiday, and got an earful of “Rebuild America First.”
“Yeah, men in position but backing away
Freedom is stuck in reverse
Let’s get out of Iraq and get back on the track
And let’s rebuild America first”
Looks like the Crawford cowboy has got himself on the fightin’ side of Merle.
It wouldn’t be the first time Hag’s spoken out on Iraq. Two years ago, he released a song critical of the media for swallowing the White House war spin hook, line and sinker.
But in the present climate, his song is the country music equivalent of Bush’s dog dying. When you’ve lost Merle, you’re losing lunchbox Americans.
The point here isn’t that one more rich star is taking potshots at the White House.
It’s that this particular star, who never strayed from his blue-collar sensibilities, sings what’s on a lot of working folks’ minds out in the heartland.
When it comes to speaking for the masses, country music artists are hard to beat. When’s the last time you heard of a “radical” country singer?
And while famed for its flag-waving patriotic flair, country music sells records by showcasing lyrics average Americans can relate to.
Haggard doesn’t speak for all Americans. But his song is yet another signal that, while Bush may be recapturing ground in Iraq, he’s losing the popular culture war at home.
It’s also a sign that recent polls weren’t somehow skewed by martini bars full of Manhattanites. In the latest Gallup survey, only 35 percent of Americans back Bush’s handling of Iraq.
Haggard and John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party hawk and decorated Marine who recently called for a staged withdrawal from Iraq, have given cover to many ordinary Americans — silenced lest they be branded “unpatriotic” — to speak out in favor of ending the war.
Neither man is Ted Kennedy or Jane Fonda. But in calling for soldiers to come home, both have turned the White House’s notion of patriotism on its head.
Despite this administration’s best efforts to link a change of posture in Iraq to cowardice, America hating or a desire to help “the terrorists,” Americans are simply unwilling to be tarred by that brush any longer.
Speaking out is patriotic, especially when there’s an entire American city to rebuild, “our highways and bridges are falling apart,” as Haggard sings, and Iraq is sucking away billions of tax dollars.
On Wednesday, Bush pledged no withdrawal from Iraq without “victory.”
Beg pardon, but what, exactly, does that mean? It’s hardly treasonous to ask. Or debate.
Folks like Merle would call that a … what’s the word? … oh yes, democracy.
Exactly what we’re supposed to be fighting for.