editors
JERRY BECK (LA)
AMID AMIDI (NY)
JibJab’s He’s Barack Obama
by jerry
June 19, 2009 6:00 pm


Jibjab just released this tonight and is too good not to share – so good, it’s even worth watching the behind-the-scenes commercial that follows it.

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Annie-Mae says:
06/19/09  6:52pm

That singer sounded like Jess Harnell. Is there a place they post the credits to these vids? I love the stretchy limbs of Obama and their image capture has gotten better since the last time they did him. ALSO, how do animators like US get these jobs?

Thanks for sharing .

 
Alan Cook says:
06/19/09  7:11pm

The singer was indeed Jess Harnell.

The credits can be found here:

http://blog.jibjab.com/2009/06/19/the-production-team/

 
shlocko says:
06/19/09  7:17pm

The production values are awesome!!!

My question is:

This is supposed to be a parody or a good ass kiss session?

I’m a bit confused ’cause during this critical times everything is upside
down like Alice in wonderland.

 
:: smo :: says:
06/19/09  8:26pm

wow awesome! the scene with the stock market graph is great!

 
Fred Sparrman says:
06/19/09  9:09pm

Visually fantastic, but the lyrics are so lame. It’s like they purposely try to AVOID actual, legitimate rhymes! If the words had half the cleverness of the visuals, it would be a big improvement.

 
Will Mendes says:
06/19/09  9:14pm

You’re right, Jerry. This was very funny.

 
DanO says:
06/19/09  9:18pm

Its funny because he hasn’t done ANY of those things yet.

*Oops. Sorry for bringing up reality…

 
Iain says:
06/19/09  9:24pm

Though I love these musical political spoofs, what happened to their older work? Like Nasty Santa and Geezers? I love them too.

Yes kids, it’s Jess Harnell doing the song! Sounds like Captain Hero’s signing for the president instead of doing “things” to unconscious bodies.

 
doctor tecate says:
06/19/09  9:26pm

Yes it’s funny because he hasn’t saved the world in 6 months.

 
robcat2075 says:
06/19/09  10:47pm

That’s what I imagine North Korean television coverage Kim Jong Il to be like, minus the irony.

 
walty says:
06/20/09  12:49am

Good Lawd, the man is having to make hard choices that have to be made, as well as to deal with muck the previous anusmaximus put into place. I’ll give him 8 years to do it if that’s what it takes to mend this great country of ours!

 
J.Shamblin says:
06/20/09  4:01am

Wow, that was pretty cool. The animation was better than I expected. Yay, JibJab!

 
En Ming Hee says:
06/20/09  4:22am

I dunno why, but I find this eerily reminiscent of the opening sequence of “Watchmen”.

 
Fooksie says:
06/20/09  4:25am

I like the white pirates. Who did the animation, ACORN?

 
Simon says:
06/20/09  5:40am

Great on all levels: content, draftsmanship, audio.

 
Viridis says:
06/20/09  9:02am

You’re right, that was awesome. :D Love the animation especially; a lot smoother than previous shorts. And of course also very funny. Hats off to JibJab.

 
Jessica Plummer says:
06/20/09  9:19am

Another goofy winner from the jibjab team! Being critical though, I’ve definitely heard better lyrics from them, so this one’s not the best I’ve seen them pull off. The art and animation, however, were stunning and hysterical.

Eh, and of course they’re not much “reality” material on Obama that makes for really good jabs, but it seems like they’re still trying to play off of the superhero-fantasy-OMG-sparkles-and-unicorns!!!-Obama. But I hope their next one includes a Ninja-Fly-Killing-Obama…

not to be a plug or anything, but their e-cards really ARE the best I’ve seen. I’m really glad they raised the bar on something that was little more than a cheesy, cheap novelty on the internet before.

 
ZuluGuru says:
06/20/09  9:20am

LAME. Propaganda.

 
Royce says:
06/20/09  9:26am

Okay, maybe we’re setting the bar just a *little* high this administration…

 
Katella Gate says:
06/20/09  9:38am

Graphic sophistication aside, this is a brilliant piece of merchandise. It’s like the old “face or vase” graphic: an animated Rorschach Test where no interpretation is wrong.

The images and language are so ambiguous, and the words so carefully qualified and minced, that you can take away with you any message you want.

If you are pro-Obama, it has enough “hurrah” in it to feel like a congratulation for him and his policies. If you see him in a less favorable light, there are enough elements to read as a satire of his policies and rock star image.

 
pudleiner says:
06/20/09  9:54am

JibJab…. I want to buy stock from this company!
Great work, makes me laugh :-)

 
Jeffrey T. McAndrew says:
06/20/09  10:11am

I had wondered what happened to Jess Harnell after the unfortunate cancellation of Drawn Together. There are some great interviews with him on the Animaniacs DVDs.

 
J. Encea says:
06/20/09  10:17am

Not their best, but still very funny–and goes both ways.

Gotta admit, between the bush administration being asleep at the wheel on 9/11, a shamefull, un needed war, and the bush economic debacle, it’s nice to have a smart man in the White House. Faults and all.

 
paburrows says:
06/20/09  10:19am

Yeah in six months he has raised the deficit more then Bush. put us in 3 times the debt through his porkulus bill that won’t even be used for a year and mostly to pay off the unions and other groups that got him in. He has gone on a bash America tour and done nothing to help out when true “Change” could have been effected in Iran. Great 6 months.

 
John Tallacksen says:
06/20/09  12:04pm

Yep, Jib Jab is pretty amazing. I both love and hate them all at the same time. Why didn’t I think of creating a studio like this?!

 
Paul N says:
06/20/09  3:32pm

Talking point, talking point, oblique reference to subject at hand, talking point…

 
Oh My F******g Gawd! says:
06/20/09  8:01pm

Great animation, stupid political comments. Great animation.

Visually awesome, and yeah, that deficit arrow (CG ?) animation they integrated was beautiful. I’m sooo happy to see JibJab pushing the(ir) envelope. This will definitely serve as inspiration for what we’re working on now. Thanks Jerry!

 
Carl Russo says:
06/20/09  8:19pm

Paburrows wrote: “Yeah in six months he has raised the deficit more then (sic) Bush.”

Wrong! See:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/cost-of-the-bush-era-11-point-5-trillion.aspx

 
vzk says:
06/20/09  10:44pm

Great animation, but I wish JibJab for once came up with original tunes for their political videos.

 
Elliot Cowan says:
06/21/09  6:34am

That is bloody fantastic.
WOW!

 
Dave Schlafman says:
06/21/09  8:50am

Loved the video and design…the promotion at the end seems somewhat tacky.

 
Professor Widebottom says:
06/21/09  3:50pm

So good that it almost makes me sick.

 
Dannny Marcus says:
06/21/09  5:17pm

The joke is that these were the ridiculously impossible-to-achieve-in-a-short-space-of-time promises that were made during the election. JibJab’s making fun of the fact that everyone assumed Barack could solve all the USA’s problems instantly, a superhero effort.

 
Joel Fletcher says:
06/21/09  7:44pm

This is a big leap forward for the animation technique, but content-wise it’s a step backward. JibJab’s famous satire is playing it safe and PC on this one.

 
Jake Richardson says:
06/21/09  10:20pm

Oh man…hilarious and visually amazing. Great job, loved every second of it!

 
chiara says:
06/22/09  2:20am

Fantastic!
I want a president like him!!!!!!!

 
El Gaucho says:
06/22/09  12:52pm

What’s this??! A NON Disney/Pixar post??

Seriously though, the folks at Jib Jab are my cut-out/2d animation gods! No one touches them in this department.

Jib-jab!

 
Hal says:
06/22/09  12:55pm

Tis the usual “can’t make an anti-war movie that depicts battle as thrilling” argument – for all the attempts to take the piss out of Obama, I’m SO INTO THIS! GOBAMA! Here’s hoping the next episode is Obama and his Super Friends!

 
Michael Jantze says:
06/25/09  8:18am

Extremely well-timed short.

 
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