Watch this. You’ll need iTunes installed, but if you don’t have iTunes installed yet I’m severely disappointed in you, hypothetial unequipped reader. Go download it now.

I’m a big fan of Sarah McLachlan. Have been since I first figured out that it was she who sang the haunting Full of Grace, which played at the end of the season 2 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sarah McLachlan rocks, and if anyone says otherwise I will hunt them down and hurl insults at them from a safe distance.

All the same, I was nervous watching this video; Apple was pitching it pretty hard, and Lord knows Steve Jobs has shown a clear willingness to spin his company to support his personal politics. And though I have no idea how McLachlan leans politically the statistics would allow me to make a fairly solid guess given her involvement in the entertainment industry.

In short, I was waiting for the video to fade to black, and then fade to the Kerry/Edwards campaign logo.

And, as occasionally happens, my cynicism was dissapointed, and my faith in humanity recovered just a tiny bit. The video is a message about how the world needs to be improved, about how much our country wastes on trivial, stupid things, with particular respect to the excesses of the music industry. And the video is only that, with no partisan politics thrown in to cheapen the message. I’m pretty damned sure that if Sheryl Crow did a video like this it would descend into Bush-bashing before the first chorus.

So, three cheers for Sarah McLachalan. I still have no idea who she’s voting for in November, but I can respect her either way.

Plus: pretty music, pretty lady, Irish name… what’s not to like?