You've got to hand it to
Hillary Clinton
— she knows how to take a lemon and squeeze it into lemonade. That's exactly what she (and her handlers, natch) have done with her latest YouTube video wherein she
(where's
when you need 'em?).* The Hillary Camp have made a
of it — which marginally-appropriate song should blare in the background at every campaign stop from here to November 2008? — and have invited you, the fair electorate, to weigh in accordingly. The songs range from appropriate-ish (
Shania Twain
, "Rock This Country" has a nice rockin' gee-tar opening and a rousing chorus of "We gonna rock!" — but it
was
written by a Canadian) to mildly inappropriate (the Monkees/Neil Diamond version of "I'm A Believer" is about falling in love; the Smashmouth version is about falling in love with a giant, farty green ogre) to wildly inappropriate (
Tina Turner
, "Simply The Best" opens thusly: "I call you when I need you, my heart's on fire/You come to me, come to me wild and wild" and later, drives it home like so: "In your eyes I get lost, I get washed away/Just as long as I'm here in your arms, I could be in no better place" and "I can feel you even when I'm alone...Oh baby, don't let go." Um....do me, America?). Meanwhile, "Suddenly I See" is from
The Devil Wears Prada
, which centered around an icy, controlling, heartless boss. Does Hillary really want that association? She might be better off going with "Private Dancer."
Okay, so maybe some of the choices weren't thought through so completely — really, any of them involving metaphors of love and/or sex (even
Celine Dion
talks of "burning, yearning") — but that's not the point: The point is, it's a damn fun game! And it's gotten people involved
and invested, enough to write in their favorite suggestions (America,
She was born long ago, she is the chosen, she's the one, she has come to save the day...) and, yes, their excoriations — which Hillary & Co. smartly wove into a very cute and funny video in which the candidate gamely and self-deprecatingly goes along with the fun, showing a playful side, and — more importantly — that she can take a joke (and get ink). Who cares if she takes a few swipes along the way? "Cold As Ice" is a pretty unoriginal jibe (especially since Hillary's hot blooded! Check it and see!), though not as odious as
Rush Limbaugh
's creative suggestion of "Baby Got Back" (um, pot/kettle much?) and
David Brooks
' unclever suggestion of "Maneater" (yaaay, gender politics! So fun and relevant!). The point is, this is a
fun game
. And guess what? Hillary's winning.
NB: After careful consideration, I voted for "Are You Gonna Go My Way" — super upbeat and galvanizing opener, though "Rock This Country" is more thematic. And now, please enjoy the gratuitous cleavage shots in the video above, plus the fabulous shoes.
Related, because everyone loves music:Translating Pearl Jam [The Daily Dish]
*Wow, this one has a nice topical title and can be read in all sorts of ways. Hell, we're all getting older, too.
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