from GuardianUK:
"I try to be fairly apolitical for the most part, but where I was willing to step boldly over that line," he says, "was with something that could not be disputed by any rational, thinking human being as the most wonderful thing about the election two years ago. Our country, coming from its history of slavery and racial inequality – one of the worst offenders for that in the history of the world – turns on a dime and elects a black man to the presidency. Regardless of what I think about politics, I'm proud of our country for being that open-minded, and showing the world, which had sort of written us all off as all being closed-minded … " He trails off, pausing for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I mean, we literally went and did something that even the quote-unquote open-minded countries of the world have never done. It just shows you the power of the American idea, which is that democracy can do this sorta thing."
Although a left-leaning country star is about as rare as a rapper who gives props to Sarah Palin, Paisley reckons his views are far from unique. "It's a very smart, progressive bunch, these people that make country music," he says. "They're not country hicks sitting behind a desk with a big cigar giving out record deals and driving round in Cadillacs with cattle horns on the front grille: it's a bunch of really wonderful, open-minded, great people down on Music Row that make this music."
His respect for the president is reciprocated. Last summer, Paisley gave a concert at the White House, playing for the Obamas and guests; and after a once-in-a-millennium flood hit Nashville earlier this year, Paisley was among those the president called for on-the-ground insight. "We had 20 inches of rain in two days: that's a really wet six months' amount for us," he says of the early May disaster, which passed all but unnoticed in the British media. "We had creeks that became hundreds of yards wide, roads under five feet of water; luckily the toll of lives was small. The Grand Ole Opry flooded, and a lot of music gear was lost, including mine. But something like this can be a shot in the arm: we've certainly been guilty of taking that place [the Opry] for granted in Nashville, and it's hard to do that now."
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