Barack Obama is the biggest rock star of the Democratic party - and now the presidential contender is the subject of a steamy new pop video featuring skimpy hotpants alongside health policy as a turn-on.
A screen grab from the I've Got a Crush ... on Obama video
Called I've Got a Crush ... on Obama, the R'n'B song and video were released a few days ago by an artist calling herself Obama Girl, and is currently tearing up the YouTube charts.
"Hey B, it's me," Obama Girl begins by whispering into a telephone. "If you're there, pick up. I was just watching you on C-Span" - the US television equivalent of BBC Parliament.
The sultry gyrating and policy-referencing lyrics are an unusual combination of sex and political wonkery -
You're into border security,
Let's break this border between you and me.
Universal health care reform,
it makes me warm.
- alongside footage of Obama Girl (real name Leah Kauffman) dancing in front of montages of Barack Obama, or B-Rock, as he's called on her blog. The most eye-catching part of the video, for some, may be the close-ups of bright red hotpants with the word "Obama" emblazoned across the rear, while singing: "Baby, I cannot wait 'til 2008. Baby, you're the best candidate."
The video and sound is professionally done, but the Obama campaign has denied any involvement - a wise move, since the video may offend some of his supporters. The culprit turns out to be a website named Barely Political, which is in the process of launching.
You can even buy an "I've got a crush ... on Obama" T-shirt.
Coming on the heels of the cheesy effort by Hillary Clinton's campaign to get supporters to vote on a Clinton campaign song - the candidates including "You and I" by Celine Dione. "I've Got a Crush ... on Obama," in comparison, is hot stuff, and suggests that Obama has a better relationship with the hip end of the youth vote. It may be sexist, but anything that helps create interest in public policy can't be all bad.
