Watching Big Sister

"It's expressing frustration and unhappiness with the level of control that her campaign is exerting. It's no more controlled than any other traditional campaign. It's not especially controlled by previous standards. But it's tightly controlled by the standards of the Web. And for a big part of the population, the standards are the Web standards," Weinberger said.

To regain her footing online, the New York senator "should go off-message and her talking points" and post videos and blogs that show "that she doesn't have the answer to everything, that she's made mistakes, that she can talk like another human being." As such the video, Weinberger added, "is particularly effective because it draws the parallel that's apparent to so many people -- that Hillary is to the campaign as PCs are to computing."

Obama, for his part, made no attempt to distance himself from the video that uses his name. Clinton is similarly taking a hands-off approach.

On "Larry King Live" Monday night, Obama said: "One of the things about the Internet is that people generate all kinds of stuff. In some ways, it's the democratization of the campaign process."

Asked if the clip should be taken down, Clinton yesterday told the cable channel NY1: "You know, that's for somebody else to decide. . . . I don't have an opinion one way or another. I think anything that drives interest in these campaigns and gets people who otherwise are not at all interested in politics, I think that's pretty good. . . . I thank heaven for small favors and the attention has shifted and now maybe people won't have to tune in and hear me screeching about 'The Star Spangled Banner.' "

In the video, the young blond woman is wearing an iPod as she runs from security guards. Obama's circular campaign logo is on her shirt. Clips of Clinton's speeches are edited into the ad -- "One month ago, I began a conversation . . . I intend to keep telling you exactly where I stand on all the issues . . . I don't want people who already agree with me . . . "-- and by the end, the tagline reads: "On January 14, the Democratic primary will begin. And you'll see why 2008 won't be like 1984." Though it makes no specific charges against Clinton, she is presented as the monotone voice of the political establishment. In an e-mail to TechPresident, ParkRidge47 said the video was created was a response to a New York Times article about the Clinton campaign and "its bullying of donors and political operatives after the [David] Geffen dustup." Geffen, formerly a Clinton supporter, hosted a Hollywood fundraiser for Obama.

In the Wild West atmosphere of the Web, there is nothing to stop cinematic entrepreneurs -- or shadowy political operatives -- from making false or questionable charges in a video posted on Google's YouTube or other user-generated sites. In classic fashion, the video has now spread to television, where "NBC Nightly News," "CBS Evening News" and cable news channels have aired segments on it.

And everyone's been wondering who ParkRidge47 is. Several e-mails contacting ParkRidge47 through YouTube weren't returned.

As it happens, Clinton was born in Park Ridge, Ill., in 1947.