Mccain Like Hope. But Different.

Thankfully, the good folks at “Election08”–a comedy group featuring veterans of MTV, ABC, NBC, The Daily Show, Second City Chicago and Reno 911–have finally made a video that even a professional cynic like me can love. Called “john.he.is,” it’s a pitch-perfect parody of the original. You’ve got your deadpan, dreadlocked black vocalist. Your diverse cast of backup singers, who fidget ostentatiously, as if to say, “It is uncomfortable to be so, like, honest.” And, of course, your egregious Mariah-style vocal melisma (“B-b-b-baby! Ooh-ooh-ooh.”) But while “Yes, We Can” was self-serious hagiography, “john.he.is” is biting satire. The target: John McCain.

I won’t ruin it for you, but suffice to say: I actually LOLed–as the kids call it–twice over the course of the clip. Whoever came up with the idea of exchanging Obama’s gauzy hope talk for McCain’s dark rhetoric on Iraq and terrorism–lyrics include “terrible sacrifices,” “combat wounds” and “the promise of a better future is not always clear”–is a genius. Not only does it make McCain seem like a wheezy old warmonger (which is right out of the Dems’ general election playbook), but if the video spreads virally–and I’m betting it will–it’ll probably force at least a few viewers drawn to McCain’s maverick rep to do what the singers themselves start to do about halfway in: listen to what’s he saying and be like, “What? Wait a second.” (Although by mocking the seriousness of our challenges abroad, it could also galvanize some conservatives–and non-hipsters. Which is why a campaign will never produce something this funny.)

Especially brutal, and hilarious: the line about Americans not being “concerned if we’re [in Iraq] for 100 years, or a 1,000 years, or 10,000 years.” To be fair, McCain means that once casualties drop to zero, we’ll keep troops stationed there to help maintain stability, as we now do in Bosnia. But with the words “Iraq Withdrawal Date: 12,008” flashing onscreen over a catchy pop soundtrack, it isn’t easy to hear the other side of the story over all the laughter.

Such is the power of YouView.