Barack Obama's re-election playlist unveiled

London, Feb 11 (ANI): The soundtrack to Barack Obama's re-election campaign, which reveals the political condundrum faced by his image makers, has been revealed.

The current President of the United States must walk a thin line in the run up to November's election, empathising with voters haunted by tough economic times, while still pushing home the message that he is improving things, and making it clear that there is hope for a better future.

Obama's eclectic playlist contains music by campaign-trail perennials like 'U2', the usual gritty ballad from Bruce Springsteen and soul classics reflecting his crossover racial appeal by Aretha Franklin and Nicole Willis.

British rockers Electric Light Orchestra's song 'Mr Blue Sky' is included, with the lyrics "There ain't a cloud in sight, it's stopped rainin' ... it's a brand new day" presumably inspiring hope, the Telegraph reported.

For an obligatory dose of patriotism country music star Dierks Bentley and his song 'Home' will be a sentimental appeal to small-town American values in tough times.

Bruce Springsteen, who headlined rallies for 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry and also featured in Obama's inauguration concert in 2009, will also boom out of Mr Obama campaign speakers.

The Boss's new song 'We Take Care of Our Own' debunks patriotic delusions like some of his 1970s classics like 'Born In the USA' and references the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

"I've been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone/The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone," Springsteen sings.

In 2008, Obama used to bound on stage to U2's "City of Blinding Lights" and he will use the Irish icons again this year to suggest a second term could be better than the first, with the song "Even Better than the Real Thing".

His list is rounded out by stars like James Taylor, REO Speedwagon, Sugarland, Darius Rucker, Ricky Martin, Ray Lamontagne and Noah and the Whale.

And the Al Green hit 'Let's Stay Together', which Obama crooned at a recent fundraising event in New York, causing a YouTube sensation, is also included.

In 2008, Obama trumped his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton after a primary victory with Steve Wonder's 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered'. (ANI)