Barack Obama Puts Hillary Clinton in 1984: Online Video Soars

Barack Obama says he had nothing to do with the online video that slams Hillary Clinton as a 1984 'big brother' big government official.  Obama said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that "people generate all kinds of stuff" on the Internet. "In some ways, it's the democratization of the campaign process, but it's not something that we had anything to do with or were aware of, and that frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this."

No one yet has confessed to placing the ad on YouTube, but it has received over one million hits already and the publicity for the spot is just getting stared.  

Barack Obama Puts Hillary Clinton in 1984: Online Video Soars

Playfuls.Com notes that the version posted on YouTube is a remix of the original version and Sen. Hillary Clinton is portrayed as Big Brother. The female hero, this time wearing an Obama tank top and listening to an iPod, is throwing a sledgehammer in a giant screen where Clinton's face is being shown. After that, the commercial fades to the words "On Jan. 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you'll see why 2008 won't be like 1984". This is followed by a modified Apple symbol - transformed into an O - with "Barack Obama.Com", Obama's official campaign website, underneath.

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According to the Chicago Sun-Times this launches a new chapter in presidential campaigning.  "This will be the political phenomena of 2008," said Democratic consultant Steve Jarding.  YouTube -- and other Internet sites where you can post your own videos -- offers a simple, fast and free outlet for do-it-yourself political admakers.

"It's clear it will have an impact. We just don't know how big," Jarding said. He said, "I don't think for a minute that Obama did it," because the negative politics-as-usual hit job would run too counter to the higher road Obama is trying to take.   Clinton senior strategist Mark Penn told the Sun-Times that it's clear that ability to videocast on YouTube is a doubled-edged sword for 2008 contenders. "We don't know yet what role this will play."

The score on this one is clear.  Barack Obama supporter 1 Hillary Clinton campaign 0.

The video is on the web at YouTube here.