Two (or More) for the Price of One

In the last twenty-four hours, this video has been rapidly disseminated by Barack Obama's supporters through various online channels to reach as many potential voters as possible before the Democratic Primaries on Super Tuesday in which opponent Hillary Clinton is still the heavily favored candidate.

This video is based on a the "Yes We Can" speech to supporters by Barack Obama, but the Spanish translation of the phrase as "Si, Se Puede!" on the video is also significant, in that it recalls the declaration of César Chavez during the historic farm workers' struggle, which was later echoed in the slogan of the Los Angeles janitors' strike many years later. Given the accepted wisdom that Obama is at a disadvantage with Latino voters, it is an interesting strategy.

Obviously, the choice to show Obama in black and white is a conscious attempt to remind viewers of news footage of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, although a video like Fired Up, Ready to Go makes the appeal of King's gospel cadences to political audiences more explicit.

Update: More on the video -- including just the barest hint of the intellectual property issues involved -- from The Los Angeles Times.