Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen have an absurd but charming podcasting setup.

On Monday, America’s dads salivated directly on their quarter-zip sweaters as Spotify released the first two episodes of “Renegades: Born in the USA,” a new podcast from Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen. That’s right: Daddy, a man in jeans and a sexy man in dirty jeans, took their respective jeans to a recording studio and posed what Spotify calls “a series of conversations … about their life, their music and their enduring love for America – despite all its challenges. This formulation seems to suggest that Obama will speak his music, in addition to Springsteen’s – an exciting but unlikely implication that isn’t exactly refuted by the show’s promotional photo.

I don’t really want to listen to this podcast – Obama was the most heard guy in the world for at least eight years now, and I don’t know what more Springsteen can tell me about how much he loves America – but I have an overwhelming urge to look at this photo for at least a full hour, maybe more. There is so much to love here: the power of the mirror image pose. The opulent range of drinks. The sparkling vibraphone in the background, presumably foreshadowing the moment in the podcast when Obama decides to take a mallet and improvise a haunting, uniquely American melody.

Let’s put the photo’s biggest reveal out of the way: Are these men touching their toes? Or do their feet rest on different parts of the same table leg – which, through the transitive furniture property of the male bond, would still constitute a variety of footsie? Regardless, the co-hosts speak top-notch body language with native fluency. Their crossed arms signify emotional detachment, while their toes seek intimacy. They might as well drop the conversation about their strained relationship with masculinity that is teased in the series trailer. Their boots said everything there was to be said.

On other matters, however, Obama and Springsteen have a little more to do. As a humble podcaster myself, I was amazed to see the men casually conversing in a cavernous room lined with windows. Did the rest of us court spine injuries and eye strain by checking in inside loud cramped pillows and dark closets for nothing? Supposedly, a limited space offers a marginal improvement in audio quality. Could I have been recording from my personal guitar and organ storage all this time?

This embarrassment of wealth extends to the drinks offered at the “Renegades” recording session. Obama is pictured enjoying at least Three different drinks: something in a mug, something in a glass and something in an insulated mug. We can assume that none of his drinks are dairy-based, unless the podcast privilege of the ultra-rich extends to the phlegm-free throats, so coffee, iced tea and … the vegan hot chocolate? A refrigerated juice (reheated ??)? Each host also has their own private carafe of what appears to be water – but, judging by the shape of the carafes, might as well be Patrón. In other words, Obama’s beverage display – a bit of caffeine, a bit of sugar, a few antioxidants, and, just speculating, an entire carafe of tequila – exists at the precise junction of relatable and ambitious. It’s tailor-made for the target audience of a meditative podcast on the life, love, and “unlikely friendship” between two of America’s richest and most famous Boomer men.

Finally, “Renegades” is billed as a series of informal chats, but these hosts have prepared for their conversation. I have two phones, a tablet, a laptop, a notepad, a notepad and a large bundle of papers on their table, a visual representation of the often invisible work required to make a spontaneously ringing audio production. . . It’s even more refreshing to see Springsteen in white jeans. He no longer needs tattered, dirt-stained blue jeans. He does not envision the concept of national unity by running his fingers across American soil. He’s sitting in his home studio, talking about his childhood with an ex-president in leather boots, sipping from his jug and cashing those Spotify checks as they arrive. The dream of the humble podcaster!