An "Obama" Moment

There you have it. Or, rather, there I have it: a quintessential "Tying My Shoes" moment. Last night I met "Obama Girl."

You know--the young lady who made a sudden splash on the Internet when YouTube posted a music video called "I got a Crush on Obama."

One of my consulting clients is News 13, a small cable operation in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Seen only on Service Electric Cable, and only in and around Hazleton, it reaches something like 60,000 homes, but is "Must See TV" in those homes. An unscientific survey says they may be doing a 90+ share of audience. Outrageous--and fun!

Anyway, Amber Lee Ettinger is from Hazleton, and she was home visiting her parents on primary election day, and stopped by the News 13 studios.

I'm sure you know her story. She's a model/actress now living in New York who was hired for the "Obama Girl" gig. She doesn't even sing in the video, it's a lip-synch.

She seemed like a smart, articulate young woman--and (of course) beautiful. Shes working hard to parlay her video fame (which has included an appearance on Saturday Night Live and an interview with Geraldo Rivera) into fortune as well. She's a graduate of NYC's Fashion Institute of Technology, and has plans for her own clothing line, and yada-yada-yada. She seems to have stretched her fifteen minutes in the limelight out longer. It'll be interesting to see where it takes her.

Anyway--I said "Hi," and had my "Tying My Shoes Moment." Nice kid. Seems to have her head screwed on pretty well. You can take the girl out of a small town, but--you know the rest.

Oh--and just in case you're one of maybe three people in the world with Internet access who hasn't seen it--here's Amber Lee Ettinger's music video.

By the way, she voted yesterday. For Barack Obama.



One last thought, about my friends at News 13. How great do you think it is to have a coverage area that measures (roughly) 12 X 12 miles????? Any must-cover story is ten minutes away! For someone who seems to have spent his career in a whole series of "hyphenated" markets with huge coverage areas, what a treat!