Obama and McCain pick their playlists

The subject of music came up when EW’s Benjamin Svetkey grilled both White House hopefuls about their tastes in pop culture for our latest issue — but neither Barack Obama nor John McCain got into the nitty-gritty details of their iPod policy positions. If I’m going to base my vote this November on what kind of music the candidates listen to (which I obviously will), I need some hard data that I can compare head-to-head, okay? Luckily, I need only consult the compact 10-song playlists the two senators contributed to Blender.com recently. No context, no empty promises — just the tunes.

And the revelations contained therein are many. Obama digs Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire” (hot!)… but also that awful will.i.am song about himself (tacky!). McCain gets some grudging points from me for picking two ABBA songs — obviously I’m not the only one whose life was transformed by seeing Mamma Mia! — then loses them right away by neglecting to mention Usher’s “Love in this Club,” which we all know is his favorite public-sex jam ever. Blender also got some random yet totally entertaining commentary on the two playlists from Randy Newman and Girl Talk, of all people. (Newman: “McCain has a really likeable list. Then again, Hitler liked some good music, you know?”) Anyway, check it out, and you tell me: Would you read an MP3 blog hosted by either Presidential candidate?

addCredit(“Barack Obama: Melissa Golden/Getty Images; John McCain: Davis Turner/Getty Images; ABBA: Mazel/Retna”)