Island Life by David Slack

Why are the words 'Yes we can' working so well for Obama, when they presaged near obliteration for Winston?

Track Record.

Although, to speculate about the people of Tauranga a little, maybe they heard the slogan & thought "Right, I'll vote for Bob the Builder then."

A similar comparison was made on PA between Obama and Brash WRT to "one nation" Orewa rhetoric.

This is where context is so important as in the end the comparisons with Brash and Peters are glib and misleading.

Orewa was about implying that an indigenous minority was getting an unfair slice of the pie. Winston Peters was not above his cracks at minority either. His first line is about immigration. So whilst they use rhetoric that could be compared to MLK, Mandela or Obama they are doing so in a negative context. It covers a desire to drive wedges between communities and create mistrust.

Obama's approach may seem like it is using similar language but no-one can be in any doubt that rather than gain power through creating divisions and mistrust, he really is trying to overcome differences in society and find common ground between different groups. It is a trust building approach.

Some would see this as risky given the Republican's success in maintaining power through wedge politics. But the public are at least able to detect the difference in tone even though the words might look similar.

Sí se puede

Perhaps the difference is that one took it from Bob the Builder (complete with Can we fix it?) and the other from César Chávez.

I just keep thinking of Hunter S Thompson's definition of a charismatic political leader: someone who can get out there, whip their followers into an orgiastic frenzy, and then go into the backrooms and do a deal which sells them all down the river for a buck apiece.

Actually, I find it absa-fricking-loutely hilarious hearing grown-ups -- whether Hell's Grannies in Tauranga or Obama-maniacs and Clinton-tickler in California (yes, she's on the bandwagon too) -- chanting a catch-phrase from a British stop-motion kiddies show.

The Muse of PopCult is generous with her blessings.

chanting a catch-phrase from a British stop-motion kiddies show

Agreed! We've got big Bob fans in the house and they have found it no trouble at all to extend their allegiance to a guy who sounds just like Bob, albeit without the talking diggers.

You know what else, though. Bob the Builder has a rocking theme song. I defy you not to sing along with it. But Bob's is all in major chords, whereas the cool thing about will.i.am's setting of Obama's speech is that it moves from major through some minor keys and then back again. Check it out:

G, Bm, Em and C (repeat ad infinitum).

You've got a major opening, a surprising shift into the mediant minor, sinking into the relative minor of the main key, and then the bright subdominant, rolling back into the main chord. Nicely moving us through affirmation, unexpected yearning, a bolstering depth of complicated history, and then back into prayerful hope (with that final, looping IV-I plagal cadence being the definitive "Amen").

Even the bridge uses a major (C), its dominant (G) and its relative minor (A min). If you were getting really poetic you could argue that -- along with the B & W video - the music is making a subliminal statement about the new politics of race. Y'know, like beyond just ebony and ivory; the complex interdependence and mutually necessary relationship of major(ities) and minor(ities), etc etc.

I am such a music geek.

Appreciated, tho. Jolissa. The way music works behind the bonnet is fascinating, and you've really pinged that one! (With a few extemporisations in a related key, heh)

Y'know, like beyond just ebony and ivory;

*coff* I was playing those chords in my head, and only hit a single black key in the whole bally lot of 'em. :P

*coff* I was playing those chords in my head, and only hit a single black key in the whole bally lot of 'em. :P

Blimey, you're right. On a piano. Bust out the guitars everybody! Or we could just transpose it up a semitone and really mess with people's heads??

F...ng sharp, Heather. :-)

You guys are giving me the EBGBs!

You guys are giving me the EBGBs!

I'd love to hear it on a ukelele. Is that something you could arrange, Jolisa?

this is just sad .... does it mean I can't play BtB on my harmonica?