Did Bob have any effect on today's politics? Would it have been worse without him? Or better?

Worse without him. He started something, if it has little relevance today, it is because those taking up the banner haven't caught the mood of the time.

I give you Billy Bragg - committed and ready to tell it the way he sees it. But does he do it with song? Not like Dylan fer sure.
Does he do it in song or harangue the audience. Tick one of the above. So not him then. Then who?

Times are a-changing, it depends where you look. Try Farcebook/Fakebook etc. That's where the shakers & movers go, and they are winning, and it ain't the ones you expected!
Of course you could think it was the same old same - but if you thought that why weren't you alive to their modern tricks?