A week before Super Tuesday last February, a bunch of inspired Americans got together over two days to make a music video. Will.i.am had just written a brilliant song based on Barack Obama's speech following the New Hampshire primary. As a long-time supporter of Barack, I had been encouraging Will to write a song for several months before that because I felt strongly that music had never been used to maximum effect before in political campaigns. I believed that if there could be an original, anthemic song that would support Barack's underlying message (like an end title song does on a film soundtrack or "We Are The World" did in the 1980s), it could actually change people's minds. I thought this would be particularly effective in the viral, connected age of the internet in which we now live. But it wasn't until we sat down in Will's home studio on Friday morning, January 29th to re-watch the Iowa and New Hampshire speeches on YouTube that Barack's words hit Will like a wave and his creativity went into overdrive.
I remember Will saying to me that he had grown up in school listening to Dr, King's "I Have A Dream" speech, Kennedy's "Ask Not" inaugural address, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; his little brother and his friends were in school memorizing those same words today because there had been nothing as memorable or inspiring from our national leaders since. After listening to Senator Obama's speech, Will felt it could be as important to future generations as those other speeches were to ours, and by putting it to music, people would be drawn in and would actually listen to Barack's words. I knew we were on to something when my younger daughter listened to Will's song over and over again that Friday night in her room, and the next morning came down to breakfast and recited the speech word for word.
It was our hope that the song and the video -- and with it Barack's message of hope and change -- would become indelibly etched in people's psyche walking into the polls on Super Tuesday and beyond. With one day left until this historic presidential election, we invite you all to watch the video one more time as a reminder why so many Americans were inspired by Barack Obama in the first place.
Remember Hope -- and Vote!
