Yes We Can, Obama Video

William James Adams probably didn't know it at the time, but the video he released three days before Super Tuesday may be a watershed moment, not merely in the course of an American election, but in the course of American history.

Adams is better known as Will I Am, the 32-year-old frontman for Black Eyed Peas. The video he made using Barack Obama's post New Hampshire campaign speech has gone viral and has recorded close to 15 million hits. If you haven't seen it yet, here's your chance:

Yes We Can.

Some people have cynically compared the work to ads for The Gap, but there is something undeniably uplifting about the four minute song that originally appeared on a website called Dipdive, but really only took off after its Youtube debut.

The effect of the video was not readily apparent on Super Tuesday itself. While Obama had remarkably closed the divide between him and Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady still won the big prizes of New York, California and New Jersey. Illinois was a homestate gimme for Obama, but his wins in the South and Mountain West were causes for alarm in the Clinton camp.

On Saturday, February 9th that the effect of Adams' "Yes We Can" video really showed itself. While Clinton and Obama traded close victories on February 5th, the popularity of Adams' video exploded in between the 5th and the 9th. The result was not merely a sweep of three primaries by Obama, but an outright routing of Clinton as he took nearly 70% of the vote in Nebraska and Washington and nearly 60% in Louisiana. Obama's victories on February 5th were much, much closer.

What is it about the video that has captured the hearts and minds of millions of Democrats and Independents? There's the message of hope and the call for "change" of course. But that was already there when Obama gave the speech back in January.

What is striking about Obama's words as they are presented by Adams and director Jesse Dylan is the lyricalness of them. No words were changed from the speech, yet they fit so perfectly into Adams' melodies. It is a format which uniquely pries open access to the human soul. It is music. Obama's speech was stirring to begin with, but when such words as -- "In the unlikely story that is America, there's nothing false about hope" -- are sung from the depths of a hopeful soul, it's hard to remain emotionless.

You can see this effect clearly in Adams himself, the creator. It is when Obama says, "The hopes of a little girl who goes to public school in Dylan are the same as the dreams of a boy who learns on the streets of LA." For a moment, in Adams' eye, you see that boy from LA and the 30 some years of dreams Obama speaks to. It's the pinnacle of the piece and it conjures images of halcyon days both remembered and never realized. It's that audacity of hope in all of us, to borrow a phrase.

Of course, it remains to be seen if "Yes We Can" truly has pushed history past a tipping point. Maybe Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska merely rode the wave of Obama's surge and the Clinton campaign will regain its footing before the big states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas have their say. But "Yes We Can" succeeds as political propaganda in a way that is a stark contrast to past methods. Whereas Michael Moore, for example, inspired millions to loathe a man and his political party, Adams inspires people to believe in a man and his message.

One advocate figuratively held a candidate's head under water and was ultimately bested by that man. The other advocate stood with his man who's mantra was "change", distilled his sentiment and handed him a megaphone.