Can it
At NRO's Corner, Victor Davis Hanson speculates on the origin of Barack Obama's "Yes, we can" theme:
Is the new Obama slogan, "Yes, we can!" just a rehashed translation of the old Cesar Chavez/UFW's ¡Sí, Se Puede! that was resurrected prominently in the May-Day open borders demonstrations of the last few years? That hardly seems "change," but more retro-1960s agit-prop.Mark Steyn notes my derivation of the slogan from Sammy Davis's Yes, I Can and adds an inspired suggestion:
Victor, over at Powerline, they seem to reckon Obama's "Yes, we can!" slogan is an allusion to Sammy Davis Jr's autobiography, Yes, I Can - which would be a droll jest on the Senator's part: The other day, asked if he resented Obama, the Reverend Sharpton played the authenticity card and replied that James Brown wasn't jealous of Sammy Davis Jr. I don't quite know why Barack would be channeling the Rat Pack, but perhaps it's a trend and Hillary will be comparing herself to Angie Dickinson and John Edwards to Peter Lawford. Bill Richardson is Joey Bishop.On second thought, I'm afraid that VDH has the better insight into the variation Obama was working on Tuesday night. If in fact Obama derived hs theme from Ceasr Chavez et al., it might constitute a part of the much discussed Bradley effect -- not Tom Bradley, however, Bill Bradley. In New Hampshire, anyway, Obama apparently succeeded to the niche held by Bill Bradley in 2000 as the candidate of upscale liberals in the Democratic primaries.By the way, if it is intentional, the Senator should borrow one of the all-time great album titles, The Wham Of Sam: The wham of Obam!
JOHN adds: Glenn Reynolds thought it could be a Bob the Builder reference.
I'm afraid, though, that VDH probably had it right.
UPDATE: Reader Jane Gildart writes:
Deval Patrick used it as a campaign tag line in his successful for run for governor of Mass. Perhaps it wasn’t original with him, but when I heard Obama use it, I thought of Patrick right away.But reader Brendan Wright submits a correction:
Patrick's campaign line was “together we can” – as one liberal radio host pointed out: “together we can hang really expensive drapes in my office, and just about nothing else.”Bur reader Matt Szekely says he heard Patrick with his "Yes, we can" shtick many times during his gubernatorial campaign. Ann Althouse also attriibtes the credit to Patrick. Jane Gildart returns with evidence that the Obama campaign used the slogan in 2004, and provides a few more sightings of the slogan in the Patrick campaign here and here.
Reader Mark Phillip Jones provides a unifying field theory that is consistent with VDH's hunch:
The use of "yes we can" directly preceded his endorsement by the culinary workers in Nevada (Matthew Yglesias predicted it here. Also, Patrick's campaign strategist = David Axelrod.I think we may have a bingo.
