February 03, 2008
Yes, We Can
A year ago as I was reporting "The First Campaign," tech/politics pioneer Andrew Rasiej predicted that 2008 would be remembered for the "voter-generated content" that transformed the election.
Now the Black Eyed Peas and Jesse Dylan (son of Bob) may not count as ordinary voters, but their new music video "Yes We Can" is a model for the types of things that people can do today in the first campaign that never would have been possible before.
The video overlays Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech after the New Hampshire primary with music and accompaniment from stars like John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Common, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali and Nick Cannon. It's a perfect example of the types of content that never would have seen the light of day just four years ago—where could you have bought enough TV airtime to air a 4:30 television ad? How could you possibly have gotten enough nationwide exposure to make it possible?
"I'm blown away by how many people wanted to come and be a part of it in a short amount of time. It was all out of love and hope for change and really representing America and looking at the world," will.i.am told ABCNews on Friday.
The video, which just hit the web this weekend, has begun to go viral. I've seen it on Twitter and Facebook already. The video views on YouTube are crossing the 100,000 mark and who knows how many times the original video has been viewed on YesWeCanSong.com. This goes to another theme of the First Campaign: Creativity moves people. The roadblocks of traditional TV advertising typically meant that you didn't have to grab people's attention like you do in the web era. On the web, unless something makes you stop and say "That's fascinating" you won't pass it along to someone else. Going viral means creating great content.
This isn't the first time the phrase has become a rallying point. Originally Cesar Chavez's motto for the UFW's 1972 hunger strike, "Si Se Puede," it has become a nearly universal labor union rally chant. Four years ago, Dean for America's theme song was LeAnn Rimes' "We Can," which played at every rally and on endless loop at headquarters as our hold music.
The theme of "We Can" perfectly sums up the hope of an insurgent campaign—it's not a front-runner's slogan. Too often today politics is merely about the achievable, while the dream is always to do the impossible. No one enters public service to fight tooth and nail in a bitter partisan environment for the lowest common denominator change.
Politics is all about doing the impossible—and that's the theme into which Obama's campaign is trying to tap.
