I’m not sure where I stand on the issue yet, but as I watched, I was struck by the gulf growing between these two groups. On one hand, an angry friend distrusts and rebukes Obama at every step…   on the other hand a roomful of children sing his praises.   What is it about Obama that inspires such passionate feeling?

In the video itself, I see a diverse group of children.  In the real world, the larger “Obama Choir” is similarly diverse; gay activist, feminists, the elderly, immigrants, minorities and even the young folk seem to sing his song hopefully….

But among those who prefer to sting then sing, I see less diversity (…in fact, I notice most seem to look like Glen Beck…).  Though these folks have traditionally been more powerful, they seem to feel threatened, and they are ready to fight.  I also notice these folks probably have a lot more to lose…

So what does this have to do with a video of children singing patriotically?

On my first viewing, I noticed it’s poor quality;  it looked like a cell phone video. The poor sound quality makes it hard to hear the words of the song, but I picked out the phrase “equal pay for equal work” and something about “not seeing race” (…both ideas I think are worthy of teaching to children…)

In spite of the “down home” setting, and a message I was comfortable with, the film seemed to grow more ominous by the minute. It “felt” creepy – somehow wrong – but I couldn’t figure out why…

On my second viewing I heard the additional audio track, laid over the original. It has a Phillip Glass/Horror film quality, and might be mistaken for the ambient sound of the video.  You can check the effect here:

Children singing with creepy ominous over-dub

These days, it’s almost impossible to believe what you see online (…especially content intended for a political purpose…). Once I discover media has been altered, I find it acts as a strong indictment of it’s author. For me, if you have to “lie” to make a point, your motives suspect and opinion not worth hearing.

Looking at it a third time, I wonder how hard it would be to make one of these. You could probably get a vacation bible camp to volunteer the kids for a small contribution…  is it expensive to rent a church basement?  as long as your dubbing the sound track, why not “dirty” up the video to give it a cell video quality…

…and as long as I’m thinking about this, why don’t more fake videos come from the “Pro Obama” folks?  Something like Joe Wilson roasting marshmallows at a Klan Rally or Glen Beck playing patty cake with a hooker?

Maybe the “Obama Chorus” is more idealistic… or maybe they still believe in “fair play” politics…  (..or more likely they just lack the media skills that comes from owning the media…)

We’ll see… (…stay tuned!)
Joe