Gosling-Inspired Memes Come to Politics

We knew it was coming sooner or later. Politicians have taken to Facebook Timelines and Twitter hashtags, so it should come as no surprise that they’ve moved on to Ryan Gosling-esque memes. To express his dissatisfaction with the economy under the President, Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona has alluded to a couple popular Internet memes, including a video featuring President Barack Obama mouthing the words to a pop song.

“I just met you and this is scary. But you’re the President so use a calculator…maybe?” Those words are featured in a photo of Schweikert, a conservative Republican running for reelection this year. The meme-style image not only spoofs other meme images strewn across the web; it parodies a song used in a recent video that splices together footage of Obama speaking to form the lyrics of a bubblegum hit. Posted yesterday, the video created by BaracksDubs has been viewed 620,000 times.

Schweikert’s meme image is inspired by the chorus of Carly Rae Jepsen’s catchy tune “Call Me Maybe”: “Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?”

The Schweikert meme was posted to his Facebook Timeline around 12:45 p.m. ET today, and has been shared by more than 40 people in a two-hour period. Considering the congressman has only 1,791 likes, the share rate isn’t shabby so far. Most commenters clearly got the joke, too. One comment, “Hey Girl, It’s David Schweikert,” references the ubiquitous Ryan Gosling memes, which often start with the greeting, “Hey Girl.”

Though some candidates may not be comfortable mimicking goofy Internet memes, it could become yet another tool in the arsenal of political and advocacy groups hoping to inspire supporters to share political messages with their Facebook friends.

Schweikert seems to take a familiar approach to his social media presence, often posting about his dog, Charlie.

The candidate also commented on Facebook recently on the latest disappointing jobs numbers, noting they are “further proof that Obama’s regulatory environment is crushing jobs and holding our economy back. We keep hoping this economy will come back stronger, but how can it with thousands upon thousands of pages of red tape heaped on small business?”