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Letters
Friday, February 29, 2008 12:00 AM

"We Are the Ones"

The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am releases a new video supporting Barack Obama.

The letters thread is now closed.

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Friday, February 29, 2008 11:15 AM

Alex, the video box you have in the post is just a big black square

Wait...I guess that means it IS an ad for Obama.

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:15 AM

Know who else will.i.am collaborates with?

MICHAEL JACKSON!

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:16 AM

Oh C'mon

We are the ones........LMAO

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:26 AM

I just got some Obama (tm) brand dog food

My dog can now talk is apparently immortal.

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:28 AM

ummmm...

The first one was okay. This one, with the chanting, is just creepy... it plays right into the whole "Obama as cult of personality" thing, which is the exact opposite I am interested in him as a candidate.

I can't see where this is going to help at all.

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:28 AM

2 or 3 catchy songs

and now we have follow their political choices. Great!

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:32 AM

The first video was really good

The "yes we can" video.

but this one, not so much.

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:33 AM

I still think this one is the best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

lol

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:41 AM

weird, cheesy, misses the mark

take the chanting out, it might be ok.

good thing the fall election will be about substance, not style.

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:45 AM

Not as lame as the first one ...

but still pretty lame.

What's next, a death metal anthem for the guy?

I think I'm now embarrassed to be an Obama supporter.

Friday, February 29, 2008 11:51 AM

We Are The (Texas) Ones

It took me awhile to figure it out, but I've decided this video is specifically targeting Texas Democrats. It skews heavily African American and Latino, and includes alot of Spanish. But the clincher? Landry and Tyra from Friday Night Lights.

Friday, February 29, 2008 12:03 PM

Mindless and creepy

As an Obama supporter I find this ad mindless and creepy.

Then again, I'm not 18 years old.

Friday, February 29, 2008 12:12 PM

not so much

I'm with seamonkey and tinmanic on this. The first will.i.am video, in turning a speech into song, was shades of Bob Marley's "war," which did a similar trick with a 1963 speech by Haile Selassie to the U.N.

This chanting thing with celebrities sometimes unsurely saying what they want for their country just plays into way too many negative stereotypes of Obama's supporters as pampered cultists, which is actually all very far off the mark. And it lacks any element of the uplifting that was so present in the first effort.

It doesn't dissuade me from my choice to support Obama, any more than the earlier will.i.am video persuaded me to support him in the first place. As mentioned above by others, this campaign, despite the media storyline, is not about style over substance. But from a critical standpoint, this is not so good.

Friday, February 29, 2008 12:22 PM

We are the ones

I haven't seen the video but the title alone could be interpreted in two completely different ways.

The good way is: let's take repsonsibility, we are the ones that have to make things happen, we are the ones who can make America better, we are the ones as a nation accountable for our future.

The uncomfortable cultish interpretation is: We are the chosen ones, the special ones who see where all others are blind.

Friday, February 29, 2008 12:33 PM

The Uncomfortable One Is

We are the ones whose crap don't stink.

Friday, February 29, 2008 12:52 PM

what a bunch of sour pusses

I always think its great when people get together to show their support..no matter how they do it. Its not cult-ish or creepy..it's people speaking their minds..just like some of these smart ass people do on this message board. What would make it better for you guys..the Sesame street gang? The Power Rangers? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Scooby Doo? The Smurfs?

Damn. People need to lighten up.

Friday, February 29, 2008 12:58 PM

oh, I don't know you guys.....

I'm just an old white mom but I see a bunch of young people who, probably for the very first time, are starting to think that they're actually the 'people' that's meant in "We The People". And I find that so energizing and hope-inspiring.

Yeah, they might be doing it a little creakily, but those muscles haven't been flexed lately, if ever, and they're doing the best they can. Which, to my eyes, is marvelous.

OH-BAH-MAH.

YES WE CAN.

love & kisses,

NOT an Obababot; just someone who is eager for the 21st century to begin.

Friday, February 29, 2008 01:06 PM

I like Obama, but...

...I worry about certain aspects of his following. This video, for example: there is no substantive content in it whatsoever. It is slick, well-constructed, even moving in places, but it tells me nothing about Obama except how various celebrities feel about him. We don't even hear Obama's voice until well into the video, and when it appears, it is such a short sample that you can't really gather much meaning from it.

This kind of spot plays right into the Clinton criticism -- which will no doubt be picked and up by the GOP, should Obama win the nomination -- that the Obama campaign has nothing to offer but hope. Of course, people who make that argument fail to appreciate why Obama's hope-based campaign is so powerful: our political system has been utterly bled dry of any real hope for progress by the kind of politics that the Roves and the Clintons have practiced over the past two decades. But I think we need more than JUST hope, and the feelings that hope inspires.

Friday, February 29, 2008 01:29 PM

Oh please -

It's just too much, one was good, two is just narcissistic.

The guy is not Hitler and Wi.ll.Iam. is not Leni Riefenstahl. I want to see the guy elected, not sanctified, and I'm a rabid supporter.

Arg.

Friday, February 29, 2008 02:39 PM

Lighten up

Take it easy, folks. There's nothing on here from Obama saying "I'm Barack Obama and I approved this ad." It is NOT a campaign ad. These people live in the United States of America where they are free to express themselves and make any creative, artistic statements they want to.

The video is clearly addressed to diverse young voters, and will.i.am is a U.S. citizen exercising his right to free speech. Way to go will.i.am! Do your thing. It's refreshing and hopeful and high-spirited, just the way I, who am no longer young, like to think of the coming generation.

This is so much easier on the ears, the eyes, and the spirit than the usual heated, vitriolic campaign rhetoric.

Friday, February 29, 2008 02:55 PM

Positively C R E E P Y

I voted for Obama. Okay!

But I have NOT and never WILL DRINK THE FREAKING KOOL-AIDE.

Jesus creeping christ.... this is the cult of personality. There will be a backlash for this religious worshiping of a presidential candidate. I DON'T WANT JOHN MC CAIN TO BE PRESIDENT... stop acting like POD PEOPLE Obama supporters!!!! Smarten up people; take a deep breath, get some fresh air, exercise or take your medicine. Whatever you need to do, just stop acting like zombies.

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