You’re better off watching it here. Because the quality is so much higher. But if you’re just too lazy to be bothered…
The most unusual political ad I’ve ever seen? I think so. I’m not sure I know what to say. Part of me wishes this were cast with regular folks, directed by David Simon, rather than stars. But stars sure are nice to look at. More than that, though, Obama radiates so much power and charisma that the stars seem to dim by comparison. So every time I begin to get annoyed by the overproduced nature of the thing, I still can’t stop watching. The man is a great orator.
[Editor’s Note: Thanks to a lurker, who sent me this. You really can comment, people. We don’t bite. And Eric won’t cut you. I promise.]
(Update: This is a lot to ask, I know. But if someone has time on their hands, and a deep grounding in pop culture, I’d sure like a cut-by-cut guide to all the people in the video. I recognize more than half, I think, but not quite three-quarters.)
The Edge of the American West 
97 comments
February 2, 2008 at 11:41 am
Percy Percy
I find this scary. We’re hiring a man (or woman) to do a job, and it’s great that Obama can speak so compellingly. It’s definitely an asset in a president. But who can live up to an ad like this, and everything that goes with it? That said, after 16 years of being disappointed by the Clintons (and dismayed by the Bushies), it would be refreshing to be disappointed by someone new.
February 2, 2008 at 11:46 am
ari
“Be Disappointed by Someone New”
Maybe not the best bumper sticker.
And I think I know what you mean by scary. I found the ad mesmerizing, uplifting, and troubling in something like equal parts. But that’s just me. I’m curious what others think.
February 2, 2008 at 12:13 pm
charlieford
It was ok. Too long, perhaps. But my main reaction was, “These are ‘stars’?” Either the nature of stardom has changed, or I’m getting old. I recognized only one face–the lovely, uh, whatsername, the one that was in a Bob Dylan video awhile ago and in a Woody Allen movie awhile before that. Other than her, looks like regular folks to me.
February 2, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Cala
Maybe not the best bumper sticker.
I’m sure we could futz with the font. Maybe “be disappointed by” over a big SOMEONE NEW.
February 2, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Witt
I didn’t recognize anybody except (I think) Michelle Pfieffer (sp).
I liked the very end the most.
February 2, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Fontana Labs
Prediction: this appeals to a very small number of people and weirds out a much, much larger number of people. Aesthetic manifesto: melisma is banned. Racially charged strategery: does Obama want to be the gospel candidate?
February 2, 2008 at 12:27 pm
apostropher
“The Black Eyed Peas’ frontman, songwriter and producer known as will.i.am, along with director and filmmaker Jesse Dylan, son of another socially active musician, Bob Dylan, released a new song Friday that attempts to do just that. […] The music video includes excerpts from the Obama speech and appearances from a range of celebrities including: Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Adam Rodriquez, Kelly Hu, Adam Rodriquez, Amber Valetta and Nick Cannon.”
February 2, 2008 at 12:32 pm
charlieford
Yeah. Scarlet Johansson! I don’t know if she’s got a new one out now, and if she does, I don’t even know what it’s about. But I’ll see her in anything, so I’ll stand in line!
February 2, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Ben Alpers
Anyone else remember Spike Lee’s beautiful, but weird and entirely ineffective ad for Jesse Jackson in 1988? (I tried finding a copy online, but it doesn’t seem to be available anywhere.)
February 2, 2008 at 12:51 pm
zinfab
Now, I drank the kool-aid on Obama the moment he gave his 2004 DNC speech, so I’m by NO means objective.
I believe that this has the best chance to do what Obama has been trying to do for the entire campaign. Effectively motivate the youth to get out and vote. It’s been promised a million times… but never appeared when the chips were down. I believe his rhetoric has become a conduit that may very well do what Dean never managed.
February 2, 2008 at 1:22 pm
blueollie
I suppose it is good for music lovers. I support O, but I classify this as “oh, that’s cute and clever”. :)
February 2, 2008 at 1:40 pm
urbino
Honestly, the first thought in my mind — the very first thought — was, “Where are the Latinos?”
I mean, it’s catchy as hell. And clever. And, well, there’s Ms. Johansson. But as a political ad? I think it actually hurts Obama among Latinos, the one group he most needs to be reaching out to, if the poll numbers are any guide.
February 2, 2008 at 1:41 pm
eric
Aesthetic manifesto: melisma is banned. Racially charged strategery: does Obama want to be the gospel candidate?
You have no soul, you pasty, pasty man.
February 2, 2008 at 1:42 pm
DrFrankLives
There is at least one latino in that video, probably more, but I know I recognized the dude who plays Sucre in Prison Break.
February 2, 2008 at 1:47 pm
eric
¡Si se puede!
February 2, 2008 at 1:48 pm
urbino
Yeah, the link apostropher provides above lists one. But, one?
I’m like Witt, in that I’m not hip enough to recognize, like, 90% of these people. Maybe there are more Latinos in there than I think, but it looked like a bunch of black people and white people, and one Latino guy.
February 2, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Fontana Labs
Perhaps, Eric, but I think Randy and Paula will let me through to the next round.
February 2, 2008 at 1:57 pm
eric
Okay, this thread is officially limited to the people with the ability to access their emotions. All you hyper-detached aesthetes go here.
February 2, 2008 at 2:11 pm
ari
I had the same thought, Urbino.
February 2, 2008 at 2:20 pm
zinfab
I’ve been trying to convince my lesbian mother that Obama is a better choice than Hillary. I keep saying, “let’s corrupt someone new.”
how’s that for cynical?
February 2, 2008 at 2:21 pm
bob mcmanus
I noticed actor Eric Balfour several places in the video, tall skinny guy with a goatee. You can look him up at IMDB to see what ge’s done.
February 2, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Jay
There are at least 2 latinos in the video. Also missing from the list above is Common a Chicago rapper.
February 2, 2008 at 2:34 pm
ari
Bob, I have to admit that you wouldn’t have been my first pick for “deeply grounded in pop culture.” Which just shows how little I know. Also: my wife totally hearts Eric Balfour. Or maybe it’s the other guy who looks a lot like him. Balfour did Six Feet Under, right? Yes, he did.
February 2, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Ben Alpers
And whenever I see Balfour, I think of his character in Six Feet Under: a charming druggy who lets his little brother die ’cause he (Balfour) is too stoned to notice his death (drowning in a bathtub, if memory serves).
February 2, 2008 at 3:05 pm
SEK
Whenever I see Balfour, I think “Jesse!” That’s the sort of geek I am. (And I hated Six Feet Under. Why do people think the American Beauty guy has talent? Why?
Also, as for the perceived lack of Latinos, do I need to give the Manny Ramirez/Pedro Martinez aren’t black speech here? (Probably not.)
February 2, 2008 at 3:08 pm
SEK
I meant to close those parentheses. Now I have.)
Also, who here didn’t recognize Kareem? I mean, that’s not a current pop culture thing, is it? He’s Kareem. I was seven years old in the ’80s and I recognized him.
February 2, 2008 at 3:12 pm
ari
Yeah, but he’s creepy as hell. Kareem, I mean.
February 2, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Colin
I didn’t recognize a soul except for that politician who kept popping up in the middle.
But it was nice and the singing-along oddly effective. Percy, do notice that the pronoun is we, not he.
February 2, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Colin
OK Kareem looked vaguely familiar but I remember him being taller.
February 2, 2008 at 3:19 pm
ari
I remember him being taller
The camera takes off 7 inches or so — for black Muslims.
February 2, 2008 at 3:21 pm
urbino
To make them less threatening, no doubt.
February 2, 2008 at 3:22 pm
urbino
Kareem and Scarlet were the only 2 I recognized, I think.
February 2, 2008 at 3:31 pm
ari
To make them less threatening, no doubt.
Yes, one among many ways that the man keeps them down.
Kareem and Scarlet[t] [Editor’s Note: Dude!] were the only 2 I recognized, I think.
Loser. I kid. I recognized, as noted above, more than half. But I could assign names to fewer than five.
February 2, 2008 at 3:34 pm
urbino
Okay, after watching it on the other site, I also recognized Kelly Hu, Herbie Hancock, Nick Cannon, and the wheelchair-bound narrator dude from Oz (I think).
February 2, 2008 at 3:37 pm
charlieford
“Effectively motivate the youth to get out and vote.”
Whoa! Now there’s a winning strategy!
“Okay, this thread is officially limited to the people with the ability to access their emotions.”
Isn’t a weary, resigned detachment itself an emotion?
February 2, 2008 at 3:37 pm
urbino
“Scarlet”, “Scarlett,” whatever. I’m a Dapper Dan man, goddam it!
Also, extremely briefly, near the end, there’s a single flash of some tallish seeming white guy with dark hair, playing an acoustic guitar. Looked sort of Dave Matthews-ish, but seemed too tall. Anybody know how that is?
February 2, 2008 at 3:50 pm
urbino
“Who,” not “how.”
February 2, 2008 at 5:03 pm
m. leblanc
All you haters are old. This video is genius. Expertly edited, managed to pair speaking with singing without sounding hokey (except for the “we want change” part; that was a little contrived), the black and white was a great choice, both symbolically and to visually correspond to the whole “this is a historic moment” sentiment in the speech, it’s more optimistic than a simple speech could be, with the “people hanging out in the studio with kids” smiley approach. The mixing is great, the star power is just enough without having people who are too famous and/or polarizing.
Now, they should edit this down to 30 seconds and put it all over tv, stat.
February 2, 2008 at 5:04 pm
charlieford
I thought you meant how can a white guiy with dark hair play guitar and be so tall at the same time. That was my question, too.
February 2, 2008 at 5:13 pm
urbino
Now that you mention it…
February 2, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Matt Weiner
You have no soul, you pasty, pasty man.
You’re saying someone has no soul because he doesn’t appreciate a song by will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas?
Honestly, this makes me reconsider my support for Obama. I think the will.i.am endorsement cancels out one of O’Hanlon and Pollack.
(Note: Apparently Clinton may have told O’Hanlon to buzz off. Will Obama do the same with the composer of “My Humps”? Keep Scarlett and Herbie, though.)
February 2, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Luke
Not mentioned yet: Tatyana Ali. Nicole Scherzinger. Harold Perrineau. Brian Greenberg. Kate Walsh. Aisha Tyler. Alanis Morrisette. Marly Matlin. Hill Harper.
Most touched I’ve been by political rhetoric since Edwards’ speech on Tuesday. Rarely been touched like that before. Don’t know what’s happening to me or, more importantly, my cynicism. Thinking of giving away larger portion of tax rebate than I had planned before. (Also still want big screen hdtv so that the pretty people are even prettier).
This ad doesn’t answer the questions and concerns I have, and I know I may yet be disappointed… but better to want and hope for too much than too little.
February 2, 2008 at 5:49 pm
ari
I’m convinced by m. leblanc and Luke. But Matt raises good points about “My Humps.” Okay, I’m still on the fence.
February 2, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Dennis Garland
I’m a 59 year old, burnt out ex longhair currently residing in Central Illinois and I thought that ad was far freaking out. I’ve paid attention to politics [as much as I could without retching] since I handed out literature for John Kennedy when I was twelve or so and I have never seen an ad that affected me more.
I too have lots of questions and not a few problems with Obama but I sure hope to heaven the man makes it. I haven’t got all that many years left on this rock and I’d sure like to go out on a high note.
I’ve said for thirty some years now that Richard M. kicked every bit of idealism or hope for a better world right out of me. Perhaps its just a reaction to the current occupant but Obama gives me hope for the first time in a generation and I am going to vote for the man.
February 2, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Spike
Obama porn.
February 2, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Adam
This video confirms what I’ve been feeling ever since the 2004 convention where I first heard Obama speak (I live in Chicago, so I really ought to have been aware of him before – weird). Obama is every bit as talented of a progressive politician as Hillary. Maybe better, I don’t know, but that doesn’t figure into it as much. The fact is that Obama’s speeches make me feel like it might actually be possible to bring out country to a place where I don’t feel embarrassed to be an American. I grew up in Texas surrounded by a very conservative culture, and the kind of hollow jingoism I was surrounded by really left me with a deep sense of apathy. But Obama changes that – instead of just asserting “the USA is the best country in the world” as I’ve been hearing since my childhood, he says, we can actually strive to be fulfill at least a small portion of the myth of America. It’s the hope that someday, I might hear non Americans say that the world is looking a little bit better today than yesterday, and the US had something to do with that.
February 2, 2008 at 7:03 pm
bitchphd
Okay, the Black Eyed Peas were PK’s first favorite band–their first album would reliably send him to sleep as a baby. So you are not allowed to diss them. And that Balfour guy’s little brother in Six Feet Under–which was quite good, by the way, SEK, you philistine–died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, not in the bathtub.
Anyhoo. The ad is nice, but I found it distracting to be playing “who’s that?” while I was watching it. I think it helps, maybe, in terms of appealing to The Youth, who are apparently big Obama supporters. Not being The Youth myself, I thought, “this is presenting him as a celebrity, not a politician,” and it pushed my “what are his actual *policies*?!?” button. But hey, I’m always wrong about politics, so probalby it’s a great ad.
Btw, I’ma vote for the man. Clinton’s anti-immigrant stuff, and remembering how tight she is with the wall street/banking/money folks made me decide not to vote for her. It bugs me that I’m not really voting *for* Obama, and it bugs me a *lot* knowing that any woman candidate who *wasn’t* tight with big money wouldn’t be the “first serious” woman candidate, which means I’m basically holding a massive double standard. But, well, I just can’t vote for her.
February 2, 2008 at 7:29 pm
charlieford
Watching this again it strikes me that what power it has comes not from the celebrities–they actually get in the way (and it would be more courageous and true to have complete nobodies doing those roles)–but from its aesthetic/emotive character, which is pure black church/spiritual/call-and-response. And that’s no mean thing.
February 2, 2008 at 7:41 pm
ari
I’ve now watched it seven or eight times. It doesn’t get old; it just gets better and more interesting. I’m now convinced that it’s a VERY powerful piece of political theater. And also quote moving.
February 2, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Vance Maverick
Isn’t it weird that there’s almost no interaction shown? Almost everybody is talking or singing straight to the camera, or to an unseen audience. (The only exception I saw on the first pass was a mother and daughter — whom no doubt I should recognize — the girl lays her head on her mother’s shoulder.) These are the conventions of music video, obviously — where, to work around the artificiality of studio recording, one’s given not interactive live performance, but vérité footage of singers making the studio recording. “You are there” while the elements of an illusory collaboration are accrued one at a time.
February 2, 2008 at 8:33 pm
ari
See, Vance, that was what I had in mind. But it seems like the average EotAW reader is not much interested in aesthetics. Philistines.
February 2, 2008 at 8:36 pm
urbino
Hell, I don’t even know what “vérité” means. I just count the noses.
February 2, 2008 at 8:39 pm
bitchphd
Ari, your man crush on Obama is almost embarrassing.
February 2, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Vance Maverick
Supposedly it’s all about “we” — but it’s the “we” of Couch Potato Nation.
February 2, 2008 at 8:41 pm
ari
I’m unashamed, B. And you can’t change that. It’s the audacity of hope. Or something.
February 2, 2008 at 8:43 pm
ari
Okay, I’m a little bit ashamed.
February 2, 2008 at 8:50 pm
bitchphd
Is there anything you’re *not* a little bit ashamed about?
February 2, 2008 at 8:52 pm
ari
Um…
February 2, 2008 at 8:53 pm
ari
No. It seems not.
February 2, 2008 at 8:53 pm
ari
But it may be guilt, not shame. I’ve never really understood the difference.
February 2, 2008 at 9:07 pm
bitchphd
Shame’s the social one, where you go “omg if anyone knew about this I’d die.” Guilt’s the one where you feel bad about it all on your own.
February 2, 2008 at 9:08 pm
urbino
TPM sez Gallup sez Clinton’s nationwide lead bounced back up to 7 points today.
February 2, 2008 at 9:14 pm
ari
Right then. So mine’s guilt. I couldn’t really care less what others think. But I always *know* that I’ve done wrong.
February 2, 2008 at 9:15 pm
ari
urbino: Yeah, I saw that. We’ll see what happens Tuesday. And then in the weeks after that.
February 2, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Vance Maverick
I couldn’t really care less what others think.
Brave words from a blogger.
February 2, 2008 at 9:20 pm
ari
Now I feel ashamed for having written that. Okay, I’ve got both: shame and guilt. I’m snarled in a tangle of pathologies.
February 2, 2008 at 9:21 pm
bitchphd
Guilt over a man crush would be completely homophobic. Let’s assume it’s shame.
February 2, 2008 at 9:24 pm
ari
Right, shame it is. But I’ve got guilt about other things. And really, I’m proud of the man crush. I didn’t know that anything could melt my cynicism about politics.
February 2, 2008 at 9:24 pm
bitchphd
I hope you feel good and guilty over not fedexing me some fucking cigarettes today.
February 2, 2008 at 9:27 pm
ari
Oddly, no. But I do hope you’re doing okay. Did you get your bike?
February 2, 2008 at 9:29 pm
bitchphd
Yes! But they couldn’t put both the rack and the tagalong mount on it, so I have to screw up the courage to take it back and say, um, I really need you guys to fix this somehow because I need to be able to take my kid shopping….
February 2, 2008 at 9:31 pm
ari
What’s stopping you? Shame? Or guilt? Either way, get over it. You’re the customer; you’re always right. (Hogwash in many cases, but true this time.)
February 2, 2008 at 9:37 pm
bitchphd
Yeah, that’s what my boyfriend says.
What stops me is that I have this pathological need to be a Good Customer. I *hate* returning shit. Fuck, I even hate it when I go into a shop and they spend time helping me and then I don’t end up buying stuff.
My boyfriend told me to stop being all Garrison Keillor nicey-nice oh-no-what-will-people-think about it. Calculating bastard, he knows how much I hate Garrison Keillor.
February 2, 2008 at 9:38 pm
mrh
Sheesh, am I the only one who finds this ad almost unbearably corny?
February 2, 2008 at 9:50 pm
ari
No, others agree. But they’re all terribly cyncial people. And cruel. The type that kick puppies and don’t stop to let kids cross the street. All the *good* people think it’s terrific.
Actually, as noted upthread, I think it’s open to all kinds of readings. And yours, mrh, is one of them.
Also: B, you’re not being a bad customer by asking the people at the bike shop to help you. Good bike shops are a subculture in which social norms demand that one helps. And also that men shave their legs. And then compete like crazed wolverines during races. But in the shop it’s all about the helping.
February 2, 2008 at 10:02 pm
mrh
Puppy-kickers for Obama! I should make t-shirts.
February 2, 2008 at 10:17 pm
ari
If you do, let me know. I’d like to buy one. To go along with the Strindberg & Helium shirts I ordered a couple of days ago.
February 2, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Ben Alpers
Obama is every bit as talented of a progressive politician as Hillary.
That’s what worries me.
And B., I’m the one who misid’d Gabe Dimas’s bro’s death. So drown me!
Also: how long before Jonah Goldberg identifies this video as an example of “liberal fascism”?
February 2, 2008 at 10:52 pm
andrew
This might be a case where “facism” is not a misspelling.
February 2, 2008 at 10:53 pm
ari
Also: how long before Jonah Goldberg identifies this video as an example of “liberal fascism”?
This is an interesting point. The video seems to have gone viral*. It’s now up at Atrios’s, Ezra Klein’s, and, somebody wrote to say, Sullivan’s place. That last, I think, is the most interesting one. He so despises Hillary. And I think that this is just the sort of thing that, were it made by her supporters, would cause him to have kittens. What to make of this? I suppose nothing more than this: most people will read what they want into the video, just as they will with the candidate himself.
* Look at me with the lingo. Though I’m not sure appearing at a few wonky sites constitutes something viral in the blogotubes. We’ll have to see what happens next.
February 2, 2008 at 11:04 pm
urbino
You say that about everything. History: what good is it?
February 2, 2008 at 11:12 pm
ari
None good.
Also: You say that about everything.
What do I say about everything? I’m sure it’s true. I just don’t know what, exactly, you’re talking about. And I can’t change if I don’t know what the problem is. So: spill.
And one more thing: I’ve been meaning to ask you, in one of your recent comments, in the thread on “flashbulb memory” I think, you seemed to be alluding to graduate school. Have you revealed more about that elsewhere. And are you willing to? I’m just curious is all. No pressure. None at all.
February 3, 2008 at 4:24 am
corporal waldo
Michael (Weiner) Savage on possibility of Obama nomination: “Think John F. Kennedy Jr. … and the airplane. Think the Mena airport”
Yes he could, I think, but will he be allowed to do so?
February 3, 2008 at 8:52 am
zunguzungu
Does anyone know what the non-English languages are spoken in this video? I caught “Si podemos” (yes we can in spanish) and si se puede (it is possible) but a young woman says something in languages I didn’t catch at about 1:09 and 1:45. Either hebrew or arabic maybe?
February 3, 2008 at 10:09 am
Geschichte Grad
For those (like me) who get distracted by the “who’s that?” element of the video, try just listening to it. Particularly these bits: 2:08-2:16, 2:43-2:55, 3:40-end, and anything with John Legend. The occasionally-uncoordinated chorus of voices can be a bit distracting in its own right, but the audio itself is still pretty moving stuff. It’s the music, rather than the images and the celebrities, that give this piece its power.
February 3, 2008 at 12:28 pm
urbino
What do I say about everything.
“We’ll have to see what happens next.” Actually, you’ve only said it twice, both in this thread. But I’m the MTV generation, so I have no attention span; thus, “everything.” Kidding, is what I was doing.
February 3, 2008 at 12:54 pm
dewdrop
I can’t read this many comments without contributing…
you know,
it’s a long time until November- we’re going to need more videos to keep the kids interested that long- and the older folks are going to be really irritated by then… so… I don’t know about this strategy of turning the O into a pop star.
(9 months!!!)
yes…. we… oh shut up already!
February 3, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Matt W
My official verdict: This is really good. If Obama didn’t have (much) better things to do, he could totally replace Fergie.
February 3, 2008 at 2:14 pm
bitchphd
Sexist.
February 3, 2008 at 2:43 pm
urbino
Is this actually an ad, at all? It doesn’t seem to be a product of the Obama campaign.
February 3, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Matt W
It wasn’t, but MoveOn just e-mailed it to me, so I think it’s been effectively absorbed into the campaign.
February 3, 2008 at 3:01 pm
ari
Not an Obama-sponsored or -sanctioned ad, as Apo notes waaaay upthread.
February 3, 2008 at 3:05 pm
SEK
And that Balfour guy’s little brother in Six Feet Under–which was quite good, by the way, SEK, you philistine–died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, not in the bathtub.
Missed this. You’re right, B. Six Feet Under was AHHHT. I always forget that, which is why I shot some video of a plastic bag dancing in the wind, you know, to remind me that there’s so much beauty in the world my heart’s going to cave in.
February 3, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Yes, We Can | Lisa's Blog
[…] found this great video here. This is excellent, uplifting, motivating. It really gives me the feeling that anything is […]
February 4, 2008 at 7:22 pm
zinfab
Michelle Obama just emailed this link to me.
“After nearly a year on the campaign trail, I’ve seen a lot of things that have touched me deeply, but I had to share this with you:”
Ok, it’s been officially adopted (unlike Obama-girl).
February 5, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Ben Alpers
It wasn’t Jonah Goldberg himself, but, as predicted above, the wingnutosphere has apparently denounced this video as “liberal fascism. Roy Edroso has a characteristically sensible and amusing response.
June 24, 2008 at 11:36 am
BallotVox » Blog Archive » Obama to Support FISA Bill
[…] West. Back in February, he appears to have created a cynical Obama bumper sticker in response to comments on an earlier post about the “Yes We Can” video. On Friday, after Obama’s announcement, it came in […]