Bruce Springsteen cut a commercial for Jeep shown during Super Bowl 55. The folksy, cowboy, unity commercial rang false in every possible way. The Jersey boy trying to sell reuniting America given his past comments did not make anyone want to run out and buy a Jeep.

Here is the full commercial:

Full disclosure, not a fan. Since Springsteen released “Born in the USA” in 1984, I have despised him. I don’t like his voice. He sounds constipated. I think “Born” is one of the most anti-American songs ever written. And, my relationship with him has gone downhill from there.

Now, to the commercial. If this commercial had been cut by the late Chris LaDoux, I would have bought it hook, line and Jeep. LaDoux, from Wyoming, was a real Western cowboy and all-American through and through. Bruce Springsteen’s ties to the West end with his birth in Long Branch, NJ. The opening shots of the commercial with the American flag, two lane highway and and dirty cowboy boot hanging out of the Jeep is a non-starter.

Plus, the commercial starts with a lie. Springsteen’s voice over says the there is a church at the exact center of the lower 48 states. First, since Hawaii became a state, we call it the Continental U.S. or contiguous states, not the lower 48. The little chapel is not at the exact geographical center. It’s close enough for government work.

The little church, the U.S. Center Chapel in Lebanon, KS, which is featured in the two minute ad is a slap in the face to all the religious faithful in this nation. The church is too small for social distancing of more than two people. People are shut out of their worship facilities, and when they aren’t shut out, they are not allowed to sing or chant. Great imagery there, Boss. Springsteen is shown praying (alone) in the church and outside sifting dirt through his fingers. The voice over continues:

“All are more than welcome to come meet here in the middle,” the “Thunder Road” singer says in a voiceover. “It’s no secret the middle has been a hard place to get to lately, between red and blue, between servant and citizen, between our freedom and our fear.

“Now fear has never been the best of who we are, and as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few, it belongs to us all. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, it’s what connects us, and we need that connection. We need the middle,” he says.

“We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground, so we can get there. We can make it to the mountaintop through the desert, and we will cross this divide. Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there’s hope on the road up ahead,” Springsteen says.

Was Mr. Springsteen thinking of meeting in the middle when he said this about President Trump and those who vote for him?

“A good portion of our fine country, to my eye, has been thoroughly hypnotized, brainwashed by a con man from Queens,” said Springsteen on the Wednesday episode of his SiriusXM E Street Radio show, “From My Home to Yours.” “You mix in some jingoism, some phony patriotism, fear of a Black planet, vanity, narcissism, paranoia, conspiracy theories and a portion of our nation undergoing mass delusions and teetering on violence, and you’re left with the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime. How did he do it?”

Was Springsteen thinking of unity when he said:

“I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy. He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder,” he said.

“I don’t know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life.”

The tagline of the ad is: “To the ReUnited States of America.” “Reunited” because you have a President who agrees with your personal view?

Clearly, for those on the left, unity is our silence. Sell it somewhere else Springsteen. We in the middle aren’t buying your East Coast crunchy granola.

Featured Image: Takahiro Kyono/Flickr.com/crop/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)