I Got a Crush. . . on Condoleezza

The State Department is defeating terrorism one "strong, engaging" online video at a time.

While many agencies in Washington expect their budgets to be cut, the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy is looking for an extra $36 million in 2009, according to new administration budget documents. That would boost the office’s budget above $400 million. (It’s spent roughly $350 million a year in 2007 and 2008.)

What will they spend the money on?  The administration showcases the office’s Video Production Team, “which creates strong, engaging web-based video that communicates key U.S. values and counters terrorist ideologies,” in documents provided to Congress.

Strong? Judge for yourself: here’s the Office of Public Diplomacy’s video report on Obama Girl and the “Hillary 1984” ad.

Engaging? a handful of videos created by the team and posted to YouTube have been viewed about 200 times.

By comparison, Obama Girl’s music video, “I Got a Crush. . . on Obama,” has been viewed an estimated 100 million times. And it cost $2,000 to make, according to its creator, Ben Relles.