They start innocently enough as emails with provocative subject lines and pasted-in URLs. Some even include unhelpful descriptions typed into the email body such as, “This is hysterical.” For the unlucky people who work in offices with IT restrictions that disallow access to certain Web sites, messages like these are torture. But for the rest of us, one of these little dandies can be the highlight of an otherwise dull day. I’m talking about truly shareworthy viral videos.

Viral videos of all shapes and kinds have made the rounds in this campaign cycle, especially now that YouTube exists –unlike during the last presidential campaign. They’re easier to watch this time around thanks to the substantially larger number of people who have broadband Internet connections rather than dial-up, making it a cinch to play videos without the stuttering and stalling from days of yore.

These videos range from Barrack Obama’s 38-minute speech on race, a bare-bones presentation with the democratic candidate standing at a simple podium, to JibJab’s highly entertaining “Time for Some Campaignin’” animated video, complete with Bush picking a banjo, McCain croaking, and Obama leaping through the happy land of change on his unicorn.

It’s worth noting that the Obama Girl’s “I Got a Crush on Obama” video hit the sharing community earlier in the campaign than most. And aside from including a scantily-clad girl who was, quite literally, shaking her O-B-A-M-A-labeled booty for the camera , this video had a ridiculously catchy chorus with funny words, to boot.

But real props should go to will.i.am, and not just because I got a lucky chance to meet him and hear about his mission for the “Yes We Can” video, though that doesn’t hurt –full disclosure…=).

According to YouTube, this video has been watched almost 11 million times, and it has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. It is, in my opinion, a summary of Barack Obama’s entire campaign: a belief in the best of people, the ability to unite as one nation regardless of our background or ethnicitiy, the audacity of hope, and the courage to change. The words used in that video come from Obama’s speech in Nashua, New Hampshire, and some text of that speech reads as follows:

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been
anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible
odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t
try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a
simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the
destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail
toward freedom through the darkest of nights.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and
pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the
ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and
prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this
world. Yes we can.

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