Beet.TV reports that U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, who this week formed an exploratory committee to investigate running for U.S. President next year, has a deal with Brightcove to manage the senator's online video strategy.

Brightcove will publish campaign videos, create an Obama channel on its service, and syndicate videos to bloggers and Web sites.

On the one hand, I have to wonder how much anyone will care about a candidate's canned, pasteurized, bland campaign videos. On the other hand, online video can create a powerful opportunity for a charismatic candidate to communicate directly with potential voters. President Ronald Reagan (a/k/a/ the "Great Communicator") was famous for going "over the heads" of the mass media to communicate directly with constituents, and he only had TV and radio to work with.