Go-Gos

Election 2016: Belinda Carlisle Song or U.S. Presidential Campaign Slogan?

By Gary Almeter

Of all the pundits, pollsters, prophets, and prognosticators lamenting the dearth of civility, the lack of substance, and the general erosion of intellect that has punctuated the 2016 election, the person for whose mellifluous musings America most yearns for remains Belinda Carlisle. And yet the former lead singer of the Go-Go’s remains noticeably and painfully absent from political discourse. It's like the world is about to end because Lex Luther is about to depress the detonators and everyone is wondering where Superman is because he, like Carlisle, has disappeared. 

Or has she?

It would seem the cheesy sound bites, the preoccupation with how men and women grab one another and where, and the self-aggrandizement of 2016 aren’t new cultural developments. Can you guess whether or not the following are Belinda Carlisle songs or U.S. Presidential Campaign slogans? Award yourself five Go-Go’s points for every correct answer, and award America next Tuesday by voting!

  1. We Can Change

  2. Change We Need

  3. Tanned Rested and Ready

  4. We Want the Same Thing

  5. Not Just Peanuts

  6. Mad About You

  7. I Like Dick

  8. Let Well Enough Alone

  9. Heaven is A Place on Earth

  10. There’s No Indispensable Man

  11. Live Your Life Be Free

  12. You’re Nothing Without Me

  13. Don’t Swap Horses Midstream

  14. Runaway Horses

  15. It’s Morning Again in America

  16. I Get Weak

  17. Nobody Owns Me

  18. Circle in the Sand

  19. Whatever It Takes

  20. Leave a Light On

  21. A Chicken In Every Pot

  22. Feel the Bern

  23. I Feel the Magic

  24. Lay Down Your Arms

  25. Let Us Have Peace

  26. Who is James K. Polk?

Answer Key

Belinda Carlisle Song:  1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24

U.S. Presidential Campaign Slogan: 2 (Barack Obama, 2008), 3 (Bobby Jindal, 2016), 5 (Jimmy Carter, 1976), 7 (Richard Nixon, 1960), 8 (William McKinley, 1900), 10 (Wendell Willkie, 1940), 13 (Franklin Roosevelt, 1944), 15 (Ronald Reagan, 1980), 21 (Herbert Hoover, 1928), 22 (Bernie Sanders, 2016), 25 (Ulysses S. Grant, 1868), 26 (Henry Clay, 1844)

Both:  17 (Donald Trump, 2016, and Belinda Carlisle, 1987)

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