I always thought that the hardcore Beatles fans were the ones who were more critical of John because we've read all the books and we know what really went on during those times, but after reading your post, Sandra, I'm not so sure.
To me it seems like John has been idolized as some sort of wonderful saint with a beautiful mind. He's always been portayed as a thinker. When I read Beatle books, all I hear about is John this and John that.
The way I see it, he was a bit of an idealstic dreamer. While his intentions were good, I think he had a tendency to latch onto left-wing movements simply because they were left-wing and not because he necessarily felt so strongly about him.
He was a human. He wasn't a god, and he wasn't a monster, but he's not as great as some people like to see him. The thing about John was that he was able to appeal to the youth so well. While both Paul and he were attention whores, John rejected the attention after he got it, as do many people who had his kind of upbringing. So he kind of gave off a cool "f***-you-I-don't-care" vibe.
As for the political aspect, I respect the main ideals, but to be honest, what good is staying in bed for a week going to do? His heart was in the right place, he just went about it in the wrong way. No doubt some of these antics were inspired by dear Yoko.
When I read that letter he wrote to Paul and Linda after the break-up of the Beatles, I was very saddened by all the nasty things he said about poor Linda. Kind of ironic that the guy who was always preaching about peace, love and a brotherhood of man couldn't make up with his ex-best friend, who had been his partner for like 15 years or something.
The whole thing with Julian and Cynthia was pretty bad too. I respect that he loved Yoko and all, but he handled the situation very poorly. He only married Cynthia because she was pregnant and that was the respectable thing to do, but the woman obviously loved him deeply and it seems like he didn't give a crap about her feelings. I once read about something he said to Julian, that he was "born out of a whiskey bottle on a Saturday night" and I remember thinking, "how could you say that to your own son?".