Will.i.am regardait les débats à la télé, ne sachant qui préférer. Bien que peu politisé, il avait beaucoup chanté pour John Kerry. Dégoûté par les deux mandatures passées – « how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful, corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and politics are… » – il a voulu s’investir totalement cette année. Mais il hésitait.
« And then came New Hampshire…
It was that speech, like many great speeches, that one moved me, because words and ideas are powerful…
It made me think, and realize that today we have very few leaders, maybe none…
But that speech…
It inspired me, it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world, it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world, and take a leap towards change, and hope that others become inspired to do the same, change themselves, change their greed, change their fears… And if we change that, then hey… We got something right? »
Il a donc appelé quelques copains (Sarah Pantera, Mike Jurkovac, Fred Goldring, Jesse Dylan, Common, John Legend, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Walsh, Tatyana Ali, Adam Rodriquez, Herbie Hancock, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Kelly Hu, Amber Valetta, Eric Balfour, Aisha Tyler, Nicole Scherzinger, Nick Cannon) et enregistré une chanson.
Une jolie réunion… Pas aussi jolie que Didier Barbelivien, Enrico Macias, Mireille Mathieu, Faudel, Bob Sinclar, Johnny Hallyday, Gilbert Montagné, Steevy et Miss Dominique place de la Concorde, mais sympa quand-même.

Le discours de Nashua, New Hampshire – 08.01.08

Le clip

Le texte dans la suite…

Une star n’apparaît pas dans le clip malgré son soutien au sénateur de l’Illinois : Hulk Hogan. Il eût été dommage cela dit de n’en profiter qu’en noir et blanc…

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 ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
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 have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics… they 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.
Now 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 the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea –
Yes. We. Can.