The Race for the White House produces two things: lots of attack ads and unwitting overnight celebrities. Think Sister Souljah. Joe the Plumber. Clint Eastwood’s empty chair. The little boy who spelled “potato” without an “e,” only to have Vice President Dan Quayle helpfully “correct” him. With election season again upon us, The Washington Times continues its series remembering some of our favorite campaign one-hit wonders and asking: Where are they now?
Then: Model and actress Amber Lee Ettinger became a national sensation when her 2007 YouTube video “Crush on Obama” tallied nearly 25 million hits, eventually landing the 29-year-old New Yorker on “Saturday Night Live.”
Now: Miss Ettinger reportedly has moved to California, where she is taking acting classes. As for her feelings about President Obama? In a February interview with Politico, Miss Ettinger fretted that the Obama Girl tag might be “stuck” on her forever, confessed that Ron Paul supporters had asked her to switch candidates and said she wasn’t sure who she was going to vote for in November.
Fun facts: Despite prodding from Fox News host Sean Hannity, Miss Ettinger refused to say during a June interview that Mr. Obama “has failed”; in the same month, she released another video imploring Mr. Obama to “step up, ‘cause I need that man, if my old crush on you was true/’Cause across the land … all our hearts were bet on you.”
Quotable: The New York Times wrote that the original video “probably had more to do with shaping Obama’s complicated public image — young and exciting but maybe a bit shallow — than any Internet appeal devised by the candidate’s own aides.”
• Patrick Hruby can be reached at phruby@washingtontimes.com.
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