Video thrilled the political star
It's started. Not just the 2008 Presidential race, but the inevitable Internet involvement. And by "involvement", I don't just mean a couple of blogs, I'm talking about full-scale mass media. Take for example, the summer rave song, "Obama Girl". It features a very attractive young lady named Amber Lee Ettinger gyrating and "singing" (actually sung by Leah Kauffman) about her crush on Barack Obama while wearing tight shorty-shorts. This bit has become so popular, it's been feature on CNN and mentioned in the Economist. The website is so full of itself from the song's popularity that they sell "Obama Girl" merchandise and even have 'deleted scenes' from the YouTube video, if you can believe that.
There's a followup that was just posted today called Obama v. Giuliani,
in which Ms. Kaufman and equally attractive backup singers get into a singing match with some Rudy supporters. The video features delightful lines like: "stop your fussin, at least Obama didn't marry his cousin" and "I still want Rudy Giuli-on-me".
I highly recommend watching it.
Of course it started last election with the Jib-Jab people who had some hilarious bush-kerry stuff.
I think that you have to view the role of the Internet in this election as analogous, maybe even parallel to that of big media. Even though there is a plethora of dreck on the Internet, there is good stuff and it does rise to the top rather quickly. And the survival formula for material on the Internet is the same as that on broadcast television--being entertaining. I think that we're in for an interesting, if slightly bumpy ride in 2008 and what's left of 2007.
I wonder if web sites should be forced to give equal time to the other candidates....
Posted on July 16, 2007
