12 Months of Searching for Obama

President Obama's State of the Union address will be livestreamed on YouTube tonight, and, if history is any indication, there is a good chance we will see searches for the President spike again this week, particularly considering YouTube is conducting an interview with the President on Thursday.

The largest spike in search interest for the President occurred right around the 2010 State of the Union, so we decided to look back at how searches for the word "Obama" have risen and declined in the 12 months since that peak.

While there is steady interest throughout the year, most of the sharp rises -- as you can see marked in the chart below -- all seem to coincide with major political and national events during the time frame, beginning with the signing of health care reform into law and spiking again this month around the time of the President's speech in Tucson, Arizona.



(Mouse over the points for more detail)

• If you, yourself, would like to ask the President a question this week, you don't have to search for it. You can just go here.