# Obama Girl ('I Got a Crush... on Obama')

> Obama Girl passed 24 million YouTube views and helped launch Barely Political.

- Owner: Barely Political / Ben Relles
- Kind: Creator moment
- Sector: Politics & civic
- Seed date: 2007-06-13
- Milestone date: 2007-07-12
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak.
- Spread Score: 46 (Notable, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Press loop, Platform jump, Response chain, Controversy, Newsjacking

## Summary

Barely Political posted a staged musical crush on Obama. News coverage carried it to television, where Pew found more first encounters than online. Sequels followed, and Next New Networks acquired the producer during the campaign.

## Timeline

- 2007-06-13 — Barely Political (YouTube) — Barely Political posted the music video with Amber Lee Ettinger lip-syncing Leah Kauffman's vocals.
- 2007-06-13 — ABC News / Jake Tapper (Press) — ABC covered the video and reported that Obama's campaign denied involvement.
- 2007-06-13 — Ben Relles (Open web) — Relles offered Obama Girl T-shirts for sale alongside the video.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/obama-girl

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Obama Girl ('I Got a Crush... on Obama').” Case HIS-01503. Spread Score v1.3: 46/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01503