““I was born in 1941,” he said, a wavering sentimentality in his scratchy voice. “That was the year they bombed Pearl Harbor. I’ve been living in darkness ever since. It looks like things are going to change now.””
Thats it? It tells me nothing.
Here are some pieces from a WeeklyStandard article on Bob Dylan, it is a little more thorough than what you posted.
“In an interview several months later with Edna Gundersen in USA Today, Dylan was asked about the absence of any song about the current (Iraq) war on his own latest album, Modern Times. “Didn’t Neil Young do that?” he jokes . . . “What’s funny about the Neil record, when I heard ‘Let’s Impeach the President,’ I thought it was something old that had been lying around. I said, ‘That’s crazy, he’s doing a song about Clinton?’”
“And indeed, any scrutiny of the record would show that he has never endorsed a political candidate (although some political candidates have endorsed him). The closest he has ever come would be the statement in his memoir, Chronicles, that his “favorite politician” circa 1961 was Barry Goldwater.”
“Consider also: Dylan never spoke out against the Vietnam war in the 1960s. Not once. It was not for want of being asked. At a 1965 press conference in San Francisco he was asked if he would be participating in an anti-war protest later that day. He replied, “No, I’ll be busy tonight.” The tape shows that he was all but laughing while he said it.”
“Despite the heat he took, he backed down not one bit. In an interview in Sing Out! magazine in 1968, Dylan was pressed on how any artist could be silent in the face of the war. Dylan talked about a painter friend of his who was in favor of the war, and said that he “could comprehend him.” Pressed further on how he could possibly share any values with such a person, Dylan responded: “I’ve known him a long time, he’s a gentleman and I admire him . . . Anyway, how do you know that I’m not, as you say, for the war?
The topic was dropped there.”
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=12727&R=11621B2BC
Let’s forget the past for a second . I am well aware of what he has said and done then . His short speech to the crowd , surely knowing that Obama had won , is unprecedented . What he said is as close to old Bobby would go in saying he was pleased about the victory . How would you translate it ???
The past ? OK- June of last year :
The folk rock icon tells The Times he has become disillusioned about the state of America and feels Obama offers the country hope.
Dylan states, “Right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralising. You can’t expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor.
“But we’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up. Barack Obama. He’s redefining what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out.
“Am I hopeful? Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”
Add it all up and what do you conclude ?