To the folks on here criticizing Dylan: let’s get real. 1) When Dylan says Obama is “redefining what a politician is,” there’s a lot of truth to it. He’s really the first candidate of the viral internet era, much more than Howard Dean was, or Ralph Nader, or Ron Paul is. So that’s just a statement of fact. You may like it or not but it’s true.
2) If your attitude toward a great artist is defined and delimited by your attitude to his/her politics, then how are you different from the old Stalinists that Dylan had to reject way back when?
3) One of the great things about Dylan is the way he refused to become a spokesman for the old or new left, or pretty much anyone else (except Jesus) when he was expected to do so, and when he really could have had the kind of political influence that most celebrity blowhards can only dream about. Now if he says that he liked the tilt of Barry Goldwater’s cowboy hat, or that Barack Obama has points of interest and “we’ll have to see how things play out,” why read more into it?
