He's Barack Obama

June 21, 2009 6:04 PM

He's Barack Obama, to a Jack Black-ian rock version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."

(If this were just standard JibJab, that'd be one thing, but I do think they stepped up their game a bit with this one, both animation- and tune-wise.)

posted by WCityMike (21 comments total)

I should also note that the comments are pretty hilarious, in that there appear to be a crew of people having nothing better to do who are going back and forth on the precise political skew that "hee hee, ha ha" gives the cartoon.
posted by WCityMike at 6:07 PM on June 21, 2009

We already had had a thread about The Radio and TV correspondent's dinner, which this was for.
posted by delmoi at 6:12 PM on June 21, 2009

Jib Jab is so goddamn unfunny it makes my teeth hurt. It's like the Capitol Steps met a flash animator in purgatory.
posted by felix betachat at 6:14 PM on June 21, 2009 [6 favorites]

Hm. The singing voice? Animaniacs' Wakko Warner. Seriously.
posted by WCityMike at 6:21 PM on June 21, 2009

Nope, no place near Wakko Warner. Seriously.
posted by hippybear at 6:25 PM on June 21, 2009

The humility I experienced for having once ffp'd something jibjab was the salvation from the embarrassment I suffered for having done so.
posted by humannaire at 6:27 PM on June 21, 2009

While I'd agree that the writing is pretty cheesy and the humor so blandly inoffensive that it becomes offensive, the design and visuals on this one are kickass awesome.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:27 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

hippybear: "Nope, no place near Wakko Warner. Seriously."

The person who voiced the main part was Jess Harnell, who performed the part of Wakko Warner on Animaniacs. Seriously.
posted by WCityMike at 6:29 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ah. sorry. That isn't how I read what you wrote. I stand corrected.
posted by hippybear at 6:31 PM on June 21, 2009

Material rejected by Jay Leno.
posted by porn in the woods at 6:38 PM on June 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

.
posted by gman at 6:39 PM on June 21, 2009

JibJab videos are what everyone I knew for not having anything resembling a sense of humor have forwarded to me. It's the political version of "inspirational cat jpegs." This was useful, however, so I can know what other people are going to be talking about.

But the animation was actually pretty good.
posted by deanc at 7:39 PM on June 21, 2009

This was funnier when Rush Limbaugh did it and called it "Barack the Magic Negro." And even then, when Limbaugh did it? It wasn't funny. It was stupid. Well, and racist. But mostly just stupid.
posted by billysumday at 8:16 PM on June 21, 2009

Yeah, the animation (at least, the big step up in animation for JibJab) is the only redeeming quality of this short.
posted by zardoz at 9:03 PM on June 21, 2009

I'm not entirely sure if that was supposed to be a satire of the unrealistic expectations placed on Obama or just a cutesy ode. No matter.
posted by leviticus8908 at 9:09 PM on June 21, 2009

At first i thought i kinda liked it, then i thought it was lame, and then he punched a robot in the face and wrestled a bear, which was pretty cool. So, I give it a check minus.
posted by empath at 10:04 PM on June 21, 2009

JibJab strikes me as political humor for people whoa aren't really clear on what's going on in the world of politics.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:27 AM on June 22, 2009

Second best part of this thread is seeing Obama punch a robot.

Best part of this thread is getting an excuse to go and watch all of The Animaniacs' songs again.
posted by Ms. Saint at 12:52 AM on June 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

The video they made four years ago for Kerry/Bush that really put them on the map was goddamn hilarious. This truly looks in every aspect like something from a completely different studio.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 2:36 AM on June 22, 2009

XQUZYPHYR, they debuted this on television over the weekend. It's no longer just the two of them but a team of animators and technologists, so that's why it looks so different.
posted by tommasz at 6:28 AM on June 22, 2009

The President's reaction.
posted by WCityMike at 5:45 PM on July 8, 2009