Eddie Vedder, strumming a mandolin, started with a Pearl Jam hit, "Rise." Next he traded the mandolin for ukelele from Hawaii ("It has a little birth certificate in there," he joked). Vedder then covered a James Taylor song (couldn't immediately name that tune) and Neil Young ("Rockin' in the Free World").

"I can't say I've ever played that many songs in a suit before," Vedder said.

He then referred Mitt Romney's 47 percent comments, offering a personal story. "I'm an example of someone who never made it to university," Vedder said. "I did have this dream to be a musician. I felt that this dream had an expiration date."

He recalled signing up for a government security guard training program. He was hired for the midnight shift, and later became the security supervisor at a petroleum company. "It was that job which he allowed me to keep affording to guitars and microphones," he said. "For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job."

"It's very upsetting to hear a presidential candidate be so easily dismissive of such a ginormous amount of the population," he said.

cameronia remains to this day this board's preeminent meat greeter

What would Johnny Ramone say?

He'd probably babble some uninformed right-wing nonsense and we'd tell him to shut up and play the hits.

Obama needs that kind of money? i dont get it.

Obama followed, saying Vedder’s story “captures better than anything what this campaign is about and what this country is about … At any given moment, all of us may need a helping hand. And that's not inconsistent with individual initiative and risk-taking and pursuing the American Dream.”

This is actually really well said. (Great Ten Club seats for whoever recorded this.)

Agreed. It seems like a really genuine sentiment and story.

Too bad they made the video private