Opinion: Will.i.am and Jesse Dylan -- and friends -- go for Barack Obama

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A pro-Barack Obama ‘Yes We Can’ video making the Internet rounds offers an interesting pairing -- Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am and filmmaker Jesse Dylan (son of Bob), plus a raft of celebrities. The inspiration of the video -- and its core theme -- was Obama’s speech after he lost the New Hampshire primary, which Will.i.am talks about here.

But pop culture folks can treat this as a quiz -- who do you recognize?

And for a less celeb-filled take -- and one that seems to capture the essence of modern American political discourse -- check out this one (with thanks to Laila Lalami’s blog for ferreting it out of the YouTube stack).

UPDATE: Well, it’s easy to ferret out a video when you’re the one who has posted it. Lalami, author of ‘Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits’ and a UC Riverside writing teacher, just e-mailed to say that the video below is of her husband, Alex Yera, and their daughter.

-- Scott Martelle