The Washington Post also had an article about the "softness" and non-martial arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner. It was not meant as a political statement or anything else, the guy wrote the arrangement in 1991, along with a number of others. As I understand it, he just wrote them because he enjoyed doing so, and I think put out a CD of his arrangements. This year's Olympic committee liked his work and asked him to arrange the national anthems of all the participating nations.

I liked it, myself. More musical, less like a marching band arrangement, whatever.