Barack Obama credits mother for career path in Bruce Springsteen podcast

Bruce Springsteen appears with former US President Barack Obama during their podcast of conversations recorded at Springsteen's home studio in New Jersey. Photo / AP

Former President Barack Obama reveals in an upcoming podcast with rocker Bruce Springsteen that he chose a career of public service in part because of to his mother, an acknowledgement that lands in the middle of Women's History Month.

"My mom was a little bit of a free thinker," Obama says in Monday's episode of Spotify's "Renegades: Born in the USA."

The Associated Press was granted early access to a snippet.

Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was an anthropologist who worked to help improve the lives of the poor in Indonesia. Obama called her "kind of romantic" and "not that practical" and said she put a "little bit of that into me".

Bruce joins President @barackobama for a long and meaningful conversation that touched on so much of what we’re all dealing with these days. Listen to the first two episodes of their new podcast Renegades: Born In The USA now on @spotify. https://t.co/D7hvKyCxxQ pic.twitter.com/zFfSLyedWn

— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) February 22, 2021

Obama tells The Boss he was attracted to public service instead of a big salary because he recognised the American dream was not achievable for many Black citizens.

"When I thought about what I should aspire to, it wasn't, 'Man, let me be Jay Rockefeller.' It was, 'Look at John Lewis.'"

Lewis, a civil rights icon, served in the US House of Representatives for 17 terms representing Georgia and became the "conscience of Congress" until his death last year.

He and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr were trying "to make the world better," Obama says.

"That path looked to me like it was something necessary for me to do. My salvation was there."

In Episode 3 of Renegades: Born in the USA, Bruce and @BarackObama talk about identity, grace, and some of the songs that have made a difference throughout their lives... including some new performances by Bruce! Take a listen to it all on @Spotify: https://t.co/FoetjI1qnK pic.twitter.com/cGA8N77LDK

— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) March 1, 2021

The discussion was kicked off when Springsteen asks Obama, who graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, why he chose organising when there were more lucrative doors open to him.

The episode is the fifth of the eight-episode series and titled "Every Man for Himself: Money and the American Dream". The conversation was recorded in Springsteen's guitar-filled home studio in New Jersey. The two men talk about their humble origins, class issues and Springsteen performs his 1982 song "Atlantic City".

From my first cross-country road trip as a child to Bruce’s experience coming of age toward the end of the Vietnam War, @Springsteen and I each continue to reflect on moments from our upbringing that helped shape our view of America. Listen here: https://t.co/3vQxU2zQub pic.twitter.com/BPwubQuBcv

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 8, 2021

The relationship between the former president and rock star began when Springsteen performed benefits for Obama during his presidential campaigns. But it had blossomed into deeper conversations since he left office, Obama said in the first episode.

In the first episode, both men recalled feeling like outsiders growing up. Later episodes explore racism, fatherhood and marriage.

-AP