Posted by Katherine St Asaph on 07/22/2012 at 7:04 PM News

The Popdust Files: barack obama, lip dubs, one direction, viral videos, what makes you beautiful

You know exactly what this is, just like how you know what every Barack Obama lip dub is about. Last time we had Bieber, this time we have his colleagues in teen-pop, One Direction with “What Makes You Beautiful.” Let’s just skip right to the ratings:

5 points for not being Gotye or fun.
-2 points when you realize the song choice probably happened entirely because someone heard Obama say the word “insecure.” (We know the real reason. This reason is funnier.)
10 points for the subtle ratcheting-up of international diplomacy, from Canada to the U.K.
-5 points for the dejected intonation of “desperately.” Which, to be fair, is the intonation that “desperately” generally gets in real life, as opposed to the lives led by people who speak every sentence for future lip dubs, but still.
500 points if you imagine this being sung to Biden.