Foreign Policy Blogs

Democratic Candidates to World: Se Habla Espanol

Yesterday Senator Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama's faced offover such foreign policy issues as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Iraq war at the MSNBC debate in Ohio last night.

The NAFTA discussion must have tickled Senator Clinton's inner Latino, because on Monday her campaign released a “Hispanic campaign song.” I know you can't wait to hear it, so click here to download the song to your Ipod so you can add it to your Campaign ’08 playlist.

Obama had already released his Spanish-language campaign song, complete with a Mariachi band (And if you’re looking for somethinga little moe danceble, here's the Reggeton remix). Now that Obama is getting flack for his use of the “Hold On I’m Comin'” theme song, he may need to switch over to the Spanish version altogether.

The Democratic candidates have inspired some other musical creations. Of course there's Obama girl. But there are some more cultural hybrids. Here's the white man's version of the Hispanic campaign song. This Obama video and audio delight is set to an afro-cuban song with the lyrics “Fired up, ready to go.”

 [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZoHY-7uat5w" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

The release of the Spanish-language campaign songs were meant to motivate the Latino voters heavily populating a state whose primary is soon approaching, Texas. But let's not forget that there's a whole world of Spanish-speakers, albeit non-voting, out there. These songs, channelled virally through YouTube, could broadcast a jazzy message about the Democratic candidates throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

Viva la ’08!

 

Author

Melinda Brouwer

Melinda Brower holds a Masters degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She received her bachelor's degree in Political Science and Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received a graduate diploma in International Relations from the University of Chile during her tenure as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. She has worked on Capitol Hill, at the State Department, for Foreign Policy magazine and the American Academy of Diplomacy. She presently works for an internationally focused non-profit research organization in Washington, DC.