But if Springsteen were a corporate lobbyist, he would probably have never been receiving Ted Koppel into his house for a journalistic shoeshine. Artists like Springsteen don't have to catch a cab into the studio and debate some schlub from the other side of the partisan divide. For a rock star, the media will build a glittery platform so that the celebrity pundit can pretend to be wise about topics they don't exactly sound impressive discussing.

 If your average corporate lobbyist said the things that Springsteen said in favor of voting for Kerry, it would be a very dull "Nightline," indeed. All Springsteen brought to the table, except for a wacky MoveOn-style line about democracy under George Bush "devolving into oligarchy," was a collection of Democratic talking points warmed over from the Boston convention. He was against large tax cuts for the richest one percent, against a rollback of environmental regulations and against cutting after-school programs.

 He also mouthed the liberal line that this is one of the most important elections of our lifetime -- which is code for "President Bush is uniquely horrendous." Lukewarm Springsteen didn't exactly sound like John Kerry would be the president of our lifetimes, implying instead that deposing Bush was the glaring necessity.

 With an average guest, the viewer might expect a tougher set of questions, but not for a rock star. No one would ask Springsteen where had the man gone who supported the war in Afghanistan, and how did that clash with his current concert sponsors? Since he's now an expert on foreign policy, Koppel could have reminded Springsteen that in 1990, he performed a benefit concert for the Christic Institute, a radical-left group that insisted the CIA was ruining Nicaragua, which at that time had a communist dictatorship, or perhaps he could call it a "devolved oligarchy." Now it's a democracy. Would Springsteen offer any apologies to the people of Nicaragua for opposing their democratic dreams?

 Springsteen does not receive these questions, because he is somehow above them. It's a tribute to his political cluelessness that he does not understand that it's this artist's exemption to a decently tough interview that really upsets the less liberal folks at home.