Will.i.am and Jesse Dylan — and friends — go for Barack Obama

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?

-Top of the Ticket Blog, The Los Angeles Times

- and don’t miss the blog of the co-creator of the video, Will.i.am, of Black Eyed Peas writing about why he got involved.

Here are the words

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. 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 mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality. (yes we can) Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can. Si Se Puede.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We want change!
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
We want change! I want Change.
The hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.

UPDATE
***And here’s a link to the most thoughtful video. If you have twenty minutes to spare, this is deeply moving in a different way. Laurence Lessig : 20 minutes or so on why I am 4Barack

Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school’s Center for Internet and Society.
He chairs the Creative Commons project, and serves on the board of the Free Software Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Public Library of Science, and Public Knowledge.

UPDATE 2 Here is the text of the Lessig video