Althouse: President Obama ties the Medal of Freedom around Bob Dylan's neck.

May 29, 2012

President Obama ties the Medal of Freedom around Bob Dylan's neck.

Photo.

Bob looks so old and frail! Also there and getting the same award but not shown in the picture: Justice Stevens.

73 comments:

BarrySanders20 said...: Dang it. I would have enjoyed a Meade photo of the event. Who knows what kinds of hysterics would result?

I want to know what he did to get that angry stare from the middle lady.; 5/29/12, 4:04 PM
chickelit said...: So do you think Bob Dylan only has a touch of grey at his age?

Only his hairdresser knows for sure; 5/29/12, 4:07 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Have you ever noticed your Dylan posts get very few comments? I wonder why that is.; 5/29/12, 4:10 PM
Humperdink said...: I don't know, this Medal of Freedom thingy is getting a bit much. It would seem to me this process has devolved over time. Just too many being awarded. Maybe it's just me.; 5/29/12, 4:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: OMG Dylan used to be younger looking than we were. Someone will need to take the mirrors out of our houses.

Actually Bob needs to consider a face lift.; 5/29/12, 4:12 PM
wyo sis said...: Bob looks like what he is. That's much preferable to how Kenny Rogers or Barry Manilow look.; 5/29/12, 4:16 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Dylan's still alive? Hmmm.

My give-a-shit meter still hasn't moved.; 5/29/12, 4:20 PM
Robert Cook said...: I'd sure like to see some of these "spokespersons of their generations" (not that Dylan ever claimed that for himself) refuse to accept a Medal of Freedom award from the blood-drenched hands of a George Bush or a Barack Obama or whomever our next President will be. It shows to go (sic), even avowed iconoclasts want to be honored and accepted into the fold.; 5/29/12, 4:24 PM
chickelit said...: Dylan's got that Frank Lloyd Wright neck thing going. I'll probably have one too when I get to their age.; 5/29/12, 4:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Blogger rick said...

I don't know, this Medal of Freedom thingy is getting a bit much. It would seem to me this process has devolved over time. Just too many being awarded. Maybe it's just me.
-----------------------------

No, it's not just you. Count me in too.; 5/29/12, 4:27 PM
Michael said...: Bob is seventy but looks eighty. Goes to show.; 5/29/12, 4:28 PM
Humperdink said...: I wonder if Dylan was a member of the Obama's Choom Gang.; 5/29/12, 4:38 PM
edutcher said...: He never cam back from that accident.

Well, glad he's still kickin'; 5/29/12, 4:38 PM
Wally Kalbacken said...: Juliette Gordon Low, dead? I didn't even know she was sick!; 5/29/12, 4:41 PM
Once written, twice... said...: Bob Dylan is the most important living artist. He might be the most important artist since Mozart or Shakespeare. Time will determine.; 5/29/12, 4:44 PM
William said...: Of all the stars from that generation, Mick Jagger seems to be holding up best. That's just so unfair.; 5/29/12, 4:45 PM
Humperdink said...: Which list is larger? Obama's Medal of Freedom roster of recipients or Obama's "Kill List"?

Just asking?; 5/29/12, 4:50 PM
geokstr said...: The first batch of these under President Romney had better include one for Andrew Breitbart. One for Limbaugh would be warranted as well.; 5/29/12, 4:59 PM
KCFleming said...: Good for him.

It is overused, and its meaning has been diluted, but I do not think it an abuse of the Medal of freedom, not in this case.; 5/29/12, 5:02 PM
Palladian said...: I'm not into awards, but if you're going to give them out anyway, Dylan deserves one; 5/29/12, 5:06 PM
MarkD said...: Medal of Freedom? Sir Elton John was knighted.

It's overdone, but harmless.; 5/29/12, 5:11 PM
X said...: Bob Dylan is the most important living artist. He might be the most important artist since Mozart or Shakespeare. Time will determine.

there's the genius stuff he did with the signs and then there's that St. Crispin's Day crap that Shakespeare rolled out there.; 5/29/12, 5:12 PM
Once written, twice... said...: Stevens deserves one for his Citizens United dissent. Twenty years from now his prudent words will be often repeated and will haunt this country.

“At bottom, the Court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt...It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.”; 5/29/12, 5:15 PM
paul a'barge said...: Yay!

Love Dylan. Can't stand Obama. Glad Dylan had to touch the man's hand and not me.; 5/29/12, 5:15 PM
Once written, twice... said...: Concerning Stevens and Citizens United-time will also tell.; 5/29/12, 5:19 PM
pm317 said...: Ann, I was thinking about asking you this question this morning and now you put this thread up. Perfect. What is the cult like fascination with Bob Dylan, especially with the lefties? Can you educate those of us who didn't grow up here about the cultural context?; 5/29/12, 5:19 PM
pm317 said...: LarsPorsena said...

Blogger rick said...

I don't know, this Medal of Freedom thingy is getting a bit much. It would seem to me this process has devolved over time. Just too many being awarded. Maybe it's just me.
-----------------------------

No, it's not just you. Count me in too.
--------------

Isn't this done every Wednesday? ;) I thought that is what the parties were for.; 5/29/12, 5:23 PM
Humperdink said...: Jay Retread said "Stevens deserves one for his Citizens United dissent. Twenty years from now his prudent words will be often repeated and will haunt this country."

If "words will be often repeated and will haunt this country" are the basis for a Medal of Freedom award, Justice Harry Blackmun should be awarded a rail car full of them.; 5/29/12, 5:30 PM
David said...: Bob looks like Salvador Dali. Oh time is cruel.; 5/29/12, 5:31 PM
Eric said...: Bob Dylan is the most important living artist. He might be the most important artist since Mozart or Shakespeare. Time will determine.

There's a whole host of 20th century musicians more important than Dylan, from Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley to Willie Nelson. He might rise to the level of Stephen Foster, but I doubt it.; 5/29/12, 5:34 PM
Kirby Olson said...: They're both hipsters who turned with the wind.; 5/29/12, 5:40 PM
lemondog said...: List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients

No Steve Jobs or Bill Gates but then their accomplishments were minor, not of a ubiquitous nature, hardly noticeable, a mere blip, gee, sorry I even mentioned it.

Is Oprah next in line?; 5/29/12, 5:42 PM
Roman said...: Bob Dylan looks like he dosen't know what planet he is on. Killed way too many brain cell in his youth!; 5/29/12, 5:45 PM
Once written, twice... said...: Chimes of Freedom, Indeed!

Thank you Mr Dylan and Justice Stevens!; 5/29/12, 5:48 PM
Humperdink said...: "Is Oprah next in line?"

Other possibilities:

Al Sharpton
Nancy Pelosi
Ben Bernanke
Barney Frank
Timothy Geithner
Charlie Rangel
Sandra Fluke
The View Crew (save one)
Hawaii Sec'y of State; 5/29/12, 5:53 PM
Dave said...: Paul a'barge said... Glad Dylan had to touch the man's hand and not me."

FYI, it doesn't rub off.; 5/29/12, 6:05 PM
Big Mike said...: Bob looks so old and frail!

We're all getting old, Professor.; 5/29/12, 6:15 PM
Tom Spaulding said...: Come gather 'round Lib'rals wherever you moan
And admit that it’s bile, not class that you've shown
And accept it that now you've been benched, you've been boned.
If your pride to you is worth savin'
Better pledge your allegiance to the land you call Home
'Cuz the times they are a-changin'.

Kos writers, Huff pundits who propagandize with pens
Say goodbye to the prize, your chance won't come again
You spoke way too loose with your lies and your spin
And it ‘s only yourselves you've been shamin'.
You're all losers now, never more shall you win
Yes the times they are a-changin'.

Lib senators, congressmen defeated, recalled
Pushed thru the doorways and shoved down the halls
For he that gets kicked will be he who has stalled
There's a Tea Party outside a-ragin'.
It has shaken your windows and rattled your walls
And the times they are a-changin'.

Earth Mothers and Fathers throughout the land
You can't analyze what you don't understand
The Sun and the Wind are beyond your command
Your Red flags are cheered on in Bejing
Cuz you’d burn up Old Glory but not the Koran
Oh the times they are a-changin'.

That line at the polls, a great shadow it casts
Mistaken for shade, in it Unions have basked
And claimed only they are the true working class
But despite all the protests they’re stagin’
They now fall to the rear as the Walker strides past
For the times they are a changin’; 5/29/12, 6:28 PM
traditionalguy said...: Bravo@ Tom Spalding... Did you write that one this afternoon? It was brilliant.; 5/29/12, 6:38 PM
Bob Ellison said...: On what basis, by what ruler, does Madeleine Albright get the same medal on the same day that Bob Dylan and John Glenn get it?; 5/29/12, 6:39 PM
ndspinelli said...: All 5 recipients are liberals. Whatever happened to the new Washington? If it were 4 to 1 I wouldn't say anything.

And the least worthy can't even speak intelligible English.; 5/29/12, 6:40 PM
Tom Spaulding said...: Wrote it initially (with some assistance from my genius brother) during the Prosser and Senate recall elections, tweaked it a little for current events.

It's theme is that of a timeless classic: the Left overplays the hand it was dealt, all along claiming to be the bestest, smartest, most caring-est poker players in any room, ever.

It will be eternally valid as long as my poetic license has not expired or been revoked by a lib judge in Madison. ;); 5/29/12, 6:46 PM
Rabel said...: "I remember reading 'Song of Solomon' when I was a kid and not just trying to figure out how to write but also how to be and how to think," he said in reference to Morrison's 1977 novel. "And I remember, you know, in college, listening to Bob Dylan and my world opening up, 'cause he captured something about this country that was so vital. And I think about Dolores Huerta, reading about her when I was starting off as an organizer. Everybody on this stage has marked my life in profound ways."

Jeebus. The self-centeredness is just stunning sometimes.; 5/29/12, 6:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Like a dead albatross.; 5/29/12, 6:50 PM
Palladian said...: "Thank you Mr Dylan and Justice Stevens!"

LOL.

Bob deserves the medal simply for having the artistic integrity to deliver a giant "fuck off" to the lefties who saw him as a messiah.; 5/29/12, 6:53 PM
Pete said...: Bob looks like my grandmother. In sunglasses.; 5/29/12, 6:54 PM
Palladian said...: Everybody on this stage has marked my life in profound ways.

Everybody on this stage should be thrilled that their life's work has led to the most important goal: creating me, Barack H. Obama.; 5/29/12, 6:56 PM
rhhardin said...: Dylan should have declined it, pending a real President.; 5/29/12, 7:03 PM
Penny said...: Televised LIVE on C-Span!; 5/29/12, 7:05 PM
Penny said...: Well it WAS televised live there.

Maybe we can all catch it on reruns?; 5/29/12, 7:06 PM
Petunia said...: I'm not a Bob Dylan fan, and I'm DEFINITELY not an Obama fan, but, unless you have some kind of vision issue that requires wearing sunglasses indoors, you TAKE THEM OFF when you get a medal from the President. Any President.; 5/29/12, 7:24 PM
Penny said...: On another puns-are-fun "note"...

Althouse favorite, Bob Dylan, celebrated his birthday just five days ago with no Althouse love?; 5/29/12, 7:29 PM
Rob said...: Y'all have to help me out. That picture of Dylan looks like an elderly woman, possibly French. Simone Signoret? Someone else? Any ideas?; 5/29/12, 7:38 PM
Matt said...: I see no reason why anyone would be offended by his wearing sunglasses. THEY are giving him the medal. He didn't ask for it. He can wear what he pleases.; 5/29/12, 7:47 PM
RobKleine said...: Nice of Bob to wear his Choom Gang specticles.; 5/29/12, 7:52 PM
Charlie said...: John Doar is from Wisconsin, why aren't we talking about him instead of some old hippy from Minnesota?; 5/29/12, 7:54 PM
Rabel said...: Too bad Juliette Gordon Low couldn't make it She woulda been the best man on the platform.

Respect my authoratai

I'm sorry, that's just mean. She was a wonderful lady and did a great thing is forming the Girl Scouts.

You go girls!; 5/29/12, 7:57 PM
1775OGG said...: Spider John will never get one and that's too damned bad!; 5/29/12, 8:03 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Morrison read her poem for Clinton's inaugural, On the Pulse of Morning, while the words are displayed on a big screen for the crowd.

Now here's what I do not get, with all that precise planning. The person at the keyboard was like an interpreter. Whoever it was did not have the poem in advance, and that is just flat stupid.

The poem begins "A rock, a river, a tree" and the big screen displayed "Iraq, a river, a tree"; 5/29/12, 8:08 PM
Pete said...: Chip, I think it was Maya Angelou that read her poem at the Clinton inauguration, not Toni Morrison. Otherwise, good point.; 5/29/12, 8:13 PM
madAsHell said...: Photo Op!

Vote for me! I gave a medal to Bob Dylan!; 5/29/12, 9:21 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Did you rage
when your heroes got old?

Hot flashes for thee

Hot air from cool G's

Cold comfort from change

And did you exchange
a walk-on pol from the war
for a man who healed pain?

How I wish, how I wish you could hear

We're all lost still after four years; 5/29/12, 9:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Bob looks a lot like Vincent Price. Maybe they can talk him into a remake of "The Tingler".; 5/29/12, 9:43 PM
Michael said...: "What is the cult like fascination with Bob Dylan, especially with the lefties?"

Well, gee, he was young when they were, and he totally changed pop music at a time when it really mattered... is it that hard to figure out?

The public radio show Sound Opinions did three shows about three different eras in Dylan's career which would help to answer that question as to why he was so significant culturally at a certain time... or two. Check 'em out.; 5/29/12, 11:07 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Lefties don't have a fascination with Dylan- Boomers do. For those of us who've overdosed on Boomer nostalgia, it's hard to see what the big deal is.

For every boring Boomer narrative, Dylan is the soundtrack. His music evokes terribly earnest TV documentaries about the Boomer life experience, from Civil Rights to the Summer of Love to the Vietnam War. Not his fault. It's difficult to explain to Boomers just how nauseating their self-fascination is to the rest of us. I'm looking forward to a retirement free of the same music and movies that I've had to hear over and over my whole life.

Bob Dylan has done a wonderful thing by not becoming another tedious political artist, for which we owe him a debt of thanks. He really is an American hero.; 5/29/12, 11:39 PM
Jason said...: He gave our nations highest civilian honor to the Hugo Chavez-fellating chair of the fucking Democratic Socialists of America?

Really?

November cannot get here fast enough.; 5/29/12, 11:43 PM
T J Sawyer said...: Obama and Dylan. I can't believe nobody has said it yet:

Everybody Must Get Stoned.; 5/29/12, 11:46 PM
David said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/30/12, 12:14 AM
Scott M said...: The poem begins "A rock, a river, a tree" and the big screen displayed "Iraq, a river, a tree"

Granted each administration has had it's protocol embarrassments and we probably only hear about 5% of them anyway. But I just can't remember another administration in my adult lifetime that's been making unforced errors like this at every turn.

Case in point, Polish Death Camps. The president of Poland is going on national TV tomorrow in Poland to decry Obama's use of "Polish death camps" instead of "Nazi death camps in occupied Poland".

But...but...butt...; 5/30/12, 12:15 AM
David said...: t's a sweet picture. Dylan is all dressed up in a tux that does not come close to fitting. He wants to respect the occasion. I know that seems counter to most of his career, but it's sweet. He seems humble, but not awestruck. It's just the President. He's seen a bunch of them come and go. He's an old man now. He survived the fame, the drugs, the craziness. I bet a bigger part of him is Zimmerman, before he became Dylan. I bet the whole wild ride seems strange to him sometimes, like someone else's life. How could it all have worked out like this?

I'm just a year younger than Dylan. Things start to look different from this perch. Everyone thinks done pretty much all that you are going to do. You could probably prove them wrong, but you don't want to. Probably you don't need to. Bob sure doesn't.; 5/30/12, 12:15 AM
Rusty said...: When did Bob become John Waters?; 5/30/12, 7:45 AM
Christopher in MA said...: Apparently Little Black Jesus blathered on about what a big fan he is of Dylan. I would have loved it if Mister Tambourine Man had pulled the same trick on him that Courtney Love did when ManBearPig told her he was a fan:

"Name three of my songs."; 5/30/12, 9:30 AM
Richard Bublitz said...: Perhaps Obama enjoyed eating at "Alice's Restaurant" so much, he needed to come back for more.; 5/31/12, 7:27 AM