talkin’ ’bout my generation
by Ari Holtz
Published: June 10, 2008
Regular readers of theREBUTTAL know that I am a supporter of Sen. Barack Obama for president (for proof click here, here or here). My arguments in support of Obama have, to this point, centered on my belief in his message of change. I find him to be an individual of rare skill, intelligence and inspiration, capable of moving this country in a post-partisan, post-racial direction. There is, however, a further aspect of the Illinois senator’s attraction that I have not touched on.
A major segment of Obama’s support has come from young voters. Many, between the ages of 18 and 35, have been drawn to the Land of Lincolner powerfully, with a force greater than they have to any previous political figure. The apathy and detachment so associated with young voters has given rise to a new passion.
What underlies this support is hard to identify. Sure, younger voters tend to be socially liberal, favoring universal health care, a true fight against climate change, and an end to the Iraq War. But Obama’s support among the young is not about policy. It is visceral, not wonky.
Obama’s central campaign theme – change – is also a natural fit for younger voters. It’s no secret that young people tend to identify with change, ushering out the old ways of their parents and instituting their own. The young have a history of supporting the insurgent candidate. They were behind Howard Dean in 2004 and George McGovern in 1972. But their support of Obama feels different. While it’s about change, it’s more than that. It’s something intangible and hard to put into words.
The magic “it” here has to do with something generational, a worldview and life experience more in line with those born in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Barack Obama, born in 1961, is the first potential president who was too young to go to Vietnam. He was 12 when Roe v. Wade was decided. He was a young adult in the mid-‘90s when the Internet started making inroads into mainstream Americans’ daily lives. He was too young to remember the Civil Rights battles of the early and mid-‘60s. The nation’s attitude towards gay Americans was widely different when Obama was maturing than it was when John McCain was, 25 years earlier. Obama is Google, not General Electric.
Obama would be our first president who doesn’t see today’s world through the prism of Vietnam, Roe v. Wade, hippie vs. square, war monger vs. peacenik, gay vs. straight, white vs. black, and other archetypical boomer paradigms. Neither do young voters. A 25-year-old voter was born in 1983. The Vietnam War holds little, if any, emotional currency for this voter. He or she has never known abortion as anything but legal. Diversity, in terms of race and sexuality, is the norm rather than an abstract idea. The idea of an African-American president is not shocking. Most have a hard time imagining why their gay friend isn’t protected against wage discrimination or isn’t entitled to visit their partner in the hospital as a family member.
Barack Obama, because of his age, his modernism, his urban and cosmopolitan nature, feels more like a peer to the young voter. John McCain, Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush feel like peers of his or her parent, of his or her grandparent.
This matters. Underneath voter apathy lies a feeling of not mattering, of not being understood, of not being aptly represented no matter who is elected. When there is a candidate who feels like he grew up in your world, rather than post-World War II America or baby-boomer America, this can break that feeling of disconnection from the political process.
So far, Barack Obama has done this. But, of course, in moving from being the Democratic nominee to the president, he faces a challenge. He must maintain his appeal to his youthful supporters while also broadening his base to the middle-aged and older voters who are more natural fits for Clinton or McCain. In this task, Obama’s talent will be tested in a way that will make his nomination fight feel easy. We will see how much of a transformational force he truly is.
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June 14th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Baracks appeal to the youthful vote will be of little help in November. The youth may make it out to a frenzied campaign speach but not to a poll booth. That’s something even Barack can’t change.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Obama is a political paper tiger. He’ll do awesome when all he has to do is deliver speeches. But as soon as it comes time to implement his disasterous economic policies, we’ll find out that there’s no substance behind the fluff.