my Obama Girl e-mail to family.

June 20, 2007

Dear all,

Oh "dear." I am sorry to have sent something that upset you. The video is not meant to provoke a lot of deep thought, just a short moment of amusement. Laura forwarded it to me from NY, and I had a laugh thinking of when my mom first liked Obama so much she kept telling me to find her a man like that.

There actually is no such thing as Obama Girl; the video is a collaboration between four 21-year-olds and a professional model-actress, so it is mostly 21-year-old humor. And most of those five actually do have a crush on Obama. It is not meant to hurt his campaign. I think the video *unintentionally* gently pokes fun at America being so in thrall with Obama's charisma, and it is*intentionally* meant as a SPOOF of the music videos on MTV today.

Regardless of your opinion of the actual video, at least consider that this is an example of average citizens participating in the political process. And not just any citizens--members of the very "lowest voter turnout" age group AC* mentions (ages 18-29). They paid for out of pocket and took the initiative to write the song, write the music, cast the video (they hired an actress-model, Amber Lee Ettinger), find and hire and pay for videographers, shoot the video, and handle distribution via the Internet. AC suggests that these students should instead be channeling their energy into learning more about politics by intelligently researching the issues and then educating others.

While I agree that it would be best if more of my generation passionately cared to educate themselves, I also think slapping down their attempts to participate in politics as "not good enough" is not going to get them to the polls any faster or with any more enthusiasm. I'll be the first to admit I am pretty new to voting. Despite being ABLE to vote since I was 18, I first voted in the 2004 elections. For years, people (from my mother to co-workers to friends) railed on me that I was the reason the world was the way it was and it's people like me that make politics not "work" and et cetera. Frankly, it made me pissed off and completely disinterested in participating at all. But one day my very good friend Shaun (he "read" the Toni Morrison piece at the wedding) sat me down and very patiently and without judgment explained to me everything about the U.S. Government and how voting works and how to further educate myself on these matters. And then I went forward knowing why I should care, and I was also quite aware of Shaun's gift to me: I understood that to educate others, you cannot shame them or their own attempts to participate. For example, I still have friends that do not vote, whether it's because they fancy themselves anarchists or because [these issues have not yet moved them], but I don't pressure them. I can send them websites I found helpful or lend them books that were enlightening, but I am not going to judge because [I feel that] voting is one of those things you have to come to in your own time and your own way.

No doubt that "democracy is more than entertainment and infomercials." However, to reach a larger percentage of that younger demographic,voting and educating oneself has to be COOL. Sorry to reduce it to that, and sorry to reduce the interests of SOME of that demographic to the average mean, but ... I do think it is true. In Laura's words, "If our generation thinks obama is a rock god he's more likely to get their vote." The "I got a crush..." music video gets the MTV generation's attention. It takes something different to get the attention of the larger group, rather than the slower process of educating individuals (like myself) until they realize why they should care, a process which requires significantly more time and patience
and hubris. Take the example of Howard Dean: His capitalization of the tool of the Internet captured this same generation's interest because he spoke to them on their level of blogging and websurfing and so forth, and because he was doing something new and different and exciting with his Internet campaigning. Much of his donations (and he led his rivals in terms of early fundraising) came from individual supporters---many of whom were also from that youngest, nonvoting demographic (many had never voted or cared to prior to 2004). They too were criticized for their efforts, called Deanites, Deaniacs, "DeanyBoppers," or "Deanie Babies." Was THAT funny? That he mobilized the young vote? Was that worth ridicule? Consider the 2004 elections. What it took to get more of that young generation to the polls was P. Diddy and the Hip-Hop Action Network launching a campaign called "VOTE OR DIE." High-end designer Marc Jacobs released a line of lower-priced tshirts all declaring different slogans about the importance of voting, and they were snatched up by the younger crowd (selling out within days) so they could not only vote but gloat about having done it too. Wear your politics on your sleeve, so to speak.

Coming back to the video, I appreciate that these young people with their individual skill sets seized the opportunity to create and to attract attention to something they cared about: Barack Obama. It may not be the way others would choose to do it, but there is no question that they've attracted attention. They used music videos, spoofing, humor, and the Internet as a means of delivering their message, which reaches the demographic they meant to reach. Furthermore, they aren't the only ones. While Obama himself had ZERO to do with the music video in question, Hillary Clinton herself held a song contest and the winner was a song by Celine Dion, BUT Hillary shot her own music video utilizing a cameo by her husband AND referencing the recent series finale of the TV show The Sopranos (see http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21936938-1702,00.html). I think a lot of politicians are realizing that to reach the untapped potential of the nonvoting demographic, they have to bend a little. Iwas just reading the other day that many of the presidential candidates also have valid myspace pages now, with staff members in charge of "updating" them. History is being made and the game of politics is being changed and I happen to think it is all a very good thing.

I applaud all those that AC mentioned are working for change, by leafletting, sign waving, participating or leading political campaigns, and so forth: [names redacted]. But I also applaud those that are exploring new ways to educate, to raise awareness about politics, and to make voting "cool" for the young voters.

Mayumi

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* Names redacted in favor of privacy.