If there was any doubt that the Barack Obama campaign is the (young) celebrity cause of the moment, it's dispelled by the Yes We Can video posted here, which stars, among others, John Legend, Scarlett Johansson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Common, Esthero, Adam Rodriguez, Kelly Hu, Ed Kowalczyk (of the York, Pa. band Live), Kate Walsh, Herbie Hancock, Tatyani Ali, and Michael, the dude from Lost.
The Senator from Illinois, it seems, is now officially more chic than helping eradicate AIDS in Africa by buying red T-shirts at the Gap. The Yes We Can clip, which began making the rounds on the Internet over the weekend and last time I looked, had been viewed almost 700,000 times on YouTube, was pulled together by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and directed by Jesse Dylan, son of Bob. It's a mash-up of a South Carolina Obama speech with spoken and sung vocals by the cast of celebs - including Johansson, who's got an album of Tom Waits covers in stores soon - with musical backing in the form of strummed acoustic guitars and Hancock's gentle jazz piano.
As viral political marketing on the eve of Super Tuesday goes, it's pretty effective stuff. The black and white imagery conveys a sense of seriousness, Legend's gospel-soul vocalizing underscores Obama's message, and Johannsson's flirtatious smile suggests that maybe if you like Obama, she'll like you, too.
Dylan has said that the video was made without the involvement of the Obama organization: "We didn't talk to anybody there," he told the blog Gothamist.com. "We just came together because it was an inspirational song about change coming out of his speech."
But even if the Obama campaign wasn't behind it, there's no question that they've been savvier about mixing pop culture (and pop music) with politics than the Hillary Clinton campagn has, as is apparent from their choices of theme songs. Besides Oprah, Obama has Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up," and U2's "City Of Blinding Lights" in his corner. (For thematic unity, I'd suggest the addition of "Yes We Can," by the late great New Orleans soul singer Lee Dorsey.)
Along with Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen on the campaign trail, Clinton uses Celine Dion's "You and I." Though, to be fair, she also has some less painful selections on her playlist, including Tom Petty's "American Girl," Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."
And the Dems aren't the only ones mixing pop and politics. Some of the choices of the Republican candidates are rather suave: Mitt Romney uses Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation," and John McCain plays Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," and, more bizarrely, ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me." Mike Huckabee doesn't have a theme song per se because, dude, he's in a band. As for Ron Paul, his DJ spins "Hope For America," a song written specifically for Paul by a supporter named Steve Dore.
Of course, the quality of campaign soundtracks might not make a smidgen of Super Tuesday difference. Four years ago, a guy named John Kerry had the backing of a whole slew of high profile supporters on the Vote For Change tour, including Bruce Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks, and R.E.M. And look where that got him.
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