I don’t guess too many political blogger are around little kids or they would recognize “Yes, we can!”. To offer them a little help and guidance plug “yes we can bob” into a search engine.
I mean, really, ripping off Bob the Builder for a campaign slogan – come on.
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20 comments
I like it. Three small words.
And what are the Republicans going to say, no we can’t?
I think they might have created their own instead of using something borrowed from a British TV show for pre-schoolers. They could find themselves involved in an intellectual property law suit.
Um, I think Bob the Builder borrowed it from Cesar Chavez. ¡Si, se puede! (“Yes, it can be done,” or “Yes, we can!”) is the motto of the United Farm Workers, devised in 1972. The American Association of University Women used that phrase as the title of its 2000 report Hispanic girls in school. That phrase was also prominently featured in the protests in 2006 against immigration reform.
Maybe it’s quite suitable for the average American voter.
I seriously doubt that the British animators who created Bob the Builder in the late 1990s were all that familiar with the work of Cesar Chavez who coined ¡Si, se puede!, but anyone exposed to children’s television on PBS stations has heard Bob say “Yes, we can!” repeatedly, and heard pre-school children [like my great nephew] speak the phase repeatedly, in English, without a Cassell’s in sight.
Michael [canna] I realize you are an Obama supporter, which is a bit odd given his views on the legalization of marijuana, but his speech writer borrowed the phrase. Neither Obama nor his speech writer are old enough to remember the Grape Boycott and the beginnings of the United Farmworkers 40 years ago – ¡Si, yo puedo!
Perhaps you missed this.
Neither Obama nor his speech writer could possibly know anything about history, either. Wow, you’re hard on him.
Personally, I’d never heard of Bob the Builder before here. I have no idea if Barack Obama would have heard of Bob the Builder growing up. I seriously doubt Bob the Builder inspired Barack Obama’s campaign.
They wouldn’t have to be old enough to remember the Grape Boycott. They’d just have to be old enough to remember 2006. People were chanting ¡Si, se puede! in cities all across the U.S. at immigration protests that year.
Michael [canna], as is to be expected, the Washington Times has everything except the last word that is contained in Jeralyn’s post where Obama backed away from decriminalization. Reading history is not the same as living it. Necessarily you don’t get all of the nuances of actually being there when you read it in a book. If you aren’t around small children you wouldn’t know about Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, Dora the Explorer, or any of the other icons of their world. Obama has young children.
Michael, you have a variant translation in a foreign language versus a direct restatement in your native language – which is the most probable source? “Yes, it can be done!” versus “Yes, we can!” as the source of “Yes, we can!”?
It took less than 4 days with a pre-schooler to pick that up, and this particular pre-schooler is bi-lingual and would translate it as ¡Si, podemos!
Barack Obama has been very clear, he is for decriminalization, not legalization. I’d rather he be for legalization, but frankly this is a stupid debate to be having in this context, since Hillary Clinton is against decriminalization or legalization.
The idea that anyone could vote for Hillary Clinton, on the grounds that Barack Obama is insufficiently supportive of the right of cannabis users, is absurd on its face.
Chill out, Michael, I don’t support either of them, and never have. I don’t see a dime’s worth of difference between them on most issues, although I would give a slight edge to Clinton’s unworkable health care plan versus Obama’s. Kucinich had the only plan that would really work and save money while providing universal coverage.
I backed Edwards because he was viable and was a lot closer to my views than anyone else when I made my choice.
I see a vast gulf between them, so I guess it’s a matter of perspective. I couldn’t possibly vote for Hillary Clinton now or in November, but I’ll support Barack Obama. Whether you see it the same way or not, if enough people do, then that’s how the elections will go, and hopefully it will be for the best.
It’s not like we have a choice of going with John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich at this point, however much we might prefer either of them.
Edwards has only suspended his campaign. So I voted for him and his delegates this morning. I’ll vote for whichever Democrat wins the nomination in November, but I’m unlikely to be very happy about it. But Bryan is right: there’s not a pennyworth of difference between Obama and Clinton on just about any issue you care to name. This fantasy that so many of Obama’s supporters are spewing everywhere they go about how he’s so much more liberal/progressive than the DLC-er Hillary is just that: fantasy. The facts do not support the fantasy, not that that detracts from the Obamabots’ worship of the god of their idolatry.
There’s always the hope that the convention will deadlock and we can get Gore/Edwards. [I know no it’s not going to happen, but I don’t hear any sopranos warming up.]
There’s always the hope that the convention will deadlock and we can get Gore/Edwards.
talk about the audacity of hope! but yeah, i went surfing for something to put on my blog shortly after edwards’ announcement in new orleans.
I noticed. It’s not going to happen, but sometimes you need to think positively, especially after you discover a fresh hairball in your shoe.
actually my positive thinking tends to be i’m positive things are going badly, but that’s never kept me from trying to influence other people’s thinking.
I have no problem with “influencing”, it’s the yelling and screaming that get annoying.
true. i sometimes resort to grave maturity in the face of yelling and screaming.