The national buzz continues to grow for the “I’ve Got a Crush … on Obama” video that we reported on a couple of days ago.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with satire, the complexities (as well as the playfulness) get lost.

Take, for example, the Chicago Tribune’s let’s-make-sure-we-put-this-in-a-broader-context angle on the story:

The music video [...] put the Obama camp in an odd position. True, the woman in the music video is clearly declaring Obama “the best candidate,” arguably a message they’d like to see going viral on the Web.

Trouble is, she’s half-naked while lip-syncing Obama’s praises and she’s also warmly kissing his photograph, yet another reminder that candidates have less and less control of their images and messages when everybody has bandwidth.

To be sure, the campaigns are happy to use venues like YouTube as low-cost alternatives to expensive television ads and mailings. But when the barrier to entry is as low as the click of a mouse, there’s no way for them to control where their images go or how they are used.

The reporters, Christi Parsons and John McCormick, emphasized the raciness of the video earlier in the piece, by saying that it “features her pole-dancing in a subway car and wearing a pair of ‘Obama’ shorts that barely contain her enthusiasm for politics.”

Let’s put aside the fact that strippers have really got to start re-appropriating the term “pole dancing” (just because she’s hanging onto a pole in a subway car …). And let’s also put aside the strange way in which reporters simultaneously cast a critical eye on all these “half-naked” images while at the same time “barely containing” their own excitement in silly metaphors.

What’s saddest about a report like this is that it doesn’t recognize the multiple levels of parody that make the video so effective as a cultural statement — and so harmless to a campaign.

Take a look at a few hip hop videos from Beyonce (maybe her classic homage to her own “Crazy in Love” crush), Fergie (maybe her virtual self-parody in “My Humps“) or someone like, let’s say, Ciara. Any viewer with at least passing knowledge of these types of videos would know immediately that Amber Lee Ettinger, the dancer in the “Crush” video — while not necessarily exaggerating her moves (it’s hard to do hyperbole when everything is over-the-top) — is certainly putting these moves in a ridiculous context. Just as she laughs in the outtake included at the end of the video, we are laughing all along.

The video also works as a mockery of that tried-and-true political strategy of associating your candidate with a particular song or artist. Hillary Clinton has taken this to new technological heights for the “Choose Our Campaign Song” contest on her own website — which apparently was a direct and conscious inspiration behind the “Crush” video.

In light of this fairly obvious, self-conscious parody, seeing this type of video as a symbol that campaigns “don’t control their message” is rather far-fetched. Most listeners and viewers can easily tell the difference between this video’s approach and a serious endorsement of a candidate — even if it comes from the hip hop community.

As Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch blog points out, Obama, possibly more than any other candidate, has inspired some genuine rhymes. Common has a line in a new song: “My raps ignite the people like Obama.” Former Ruff Ryders rapper Jin has an “Open Letter 2 Obama.” And a mysterious new group — the Amigos de Obama — has appeared with an untitled number.

Some of these songs make clear, however, that even a serious political statement can be pretty funny as well.

Update: Since I posted, the Chicago Tribune, Obama’s hometown paper, has obviously decided the video is worthy of a little more attention — putting a series of links at the top of their homepage. Unfortunately, even Steven Johnson, one of my favorite all-around critics, fails to see the satirical light.