Dave Matthews Speaks Out for Barack Obama

On February 4th, the day before Super Tuesday, Dave Matthews sent out a brief but passionate email to 1 million of his fans endorsing Barack Obama for president. Born in South Africa under apartheid, Matthews witnessed first-hand how racial politics can devastate an entire nation — and how a single, eloquent leader can transcend decades of brutal divisiveness. We caught up with Matthews the day after Obama gave his landmark speech on the role of race in American politics.

You've supported candidates before, but you seem especially passionate about Obama. What is it about him that has inspired you?
It's a quality he has that seems to elevate the people around him. The biggest argument that people can lay against him is his lack of qualifications, which is such an empty argument. The most important qualification a candidate can possess is being able to inspire people to want to do things for the country. The great presidential speeches by people like Kennedy or Lincoln — what made them great were their words, and the fact that they moved mountains with their words. We don't remember JFK's qualifications. We don't remember his connections or his experience in the political arena. What we remember are the qualities that made him stand apart from all that. That's why people are being inspired by Obama. He makes me feel like it is possible to change the world.

That's quite the opposite from what I feel about the rest of the candidates. I feel like they're saying [adopts a deep, pompous voice], "It's the real world, it is what it is, you need to have experience in order to be able to move forward." What a bunch of crap. I don't want someone who's experienced in the present-day arena of politics — it's hopelessly failed this country. Both sides of the aisle, without question, have dismally let the American people down. We need a person with fresh ideas and an incredible eloquence that really cuts to the core of so many issues with just a real frankness.

But what about the people who say that Obama is just empty rhetoric?
The argument that's laid against him so often is, "Come on, be realistic buddy, your head's in the clouds." This idea of, "Oh, you're inspiring people — nice job, but to be president you need to be more qualified to bore people to death and get nothing done. Oh, you want to change the world? The best way to change the world is to know how flop around with the other dead fish." I mix metaphors because I'm semi-retarded. But I really think Obama could move mountains, not because he's some kind of spectacular superhuman, but because he moves people in a real way.

Of course, it can also be quite unnerving when someone speaks in such powerful ways about possibilities. I can see how some people are like, "Wait a second, this guy, he's using crazy talk like 'hope' and 'inspiration' and 'change,' and using them in ways that makes them sound like real things!" The status quo has its attractions, even if it's a bit uncomfortable. This bed of nails that I sleep on is not very comfortable, but at least it's a bed.