It might be difficult to grasp the seriousness of the matter if you don't understand Springsteen's peculiar appeal to his listeners. And anyway, you shouldn't ask that type of modernisticly disabled music critics, who fall flat on their face for everything extraordinary - drug abuse, perversion, malignity, spinelessness - but usually see red when confronted with Springsteen's pleasant and coherent personality. In almost every one of his songs Springsteen has tried to express something ethically valid and edfifying, and therefore it has never been bored art snobs and excitation chasers he adressed. The ties he has established with his fans - and which are now likely to be broken in close to half the cases - are to an exceptional extent constituting an ethically and existentially binding community.
On the album The Rising one of the songs is about a passionate relationship between an American man and a local woman somewhere in the Middle East. Naturally, it is the man who tells the story, and he begins with an intimate description of their embrace which, however, is suddenly interrupted: "But when I look into your eyes, we stand worlds apart". It is evident, that this line gives vent to American frustrations in relation to the outside world, notably the Muslim world, in the aftermath of 9/11. The tone is tender but also disillusioned, for as it says later in the text: "Sometimes the truth just ain't enough, or it's too much in times like this". Still, the song continues as a desperate endeavour to overcome the culture gap through the tenderness, an the message left at the end is given by the final words: "Let's let love give what it gives". With this the song indirectly gets a political tendency, which in the present situation must be perceived as left-wing. But at the same time the moderateness of this left-wing tendency is indicated because nothing is said or guaranteed about how much love can give. By sticking to the empty tautology, that love gives what it gives, Springsteen has exposed our actual lack of knowledge and avoided offering a sentimental patent solution to the world situation.
It appears to me, that the song about the lovers haunted by world politics has gained a new and surprising meaning today. After a musical embrace spanning three decades Springsteen has looked his audience directly in the eyes and realized, that his music stands worlds apart from the Republican government conduct. Love in it self can not remove a fundamental gap between points of view, and in the relation between Springsteen and the Republicans the cult of rock - which is pretty much similar to love - has reached the limit for, what it can unite.