Obama allure attractive to young people

Published:Tuesday, February 26, 2008

HOW HE SEES IT

Obama allure attractive to young people

By JAMES KLURFELD

long island Newsday

I received a lot of e-mail on last week’s column (Vindicator, Feb. 19) predicting that Sen. Barack Obama would become the target of a lot more negative press, now that he has become the Democratic front-runner. Most of the messages were from supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who said it’s about time.

And sure enough, even with his significantly big win in Wisconsin last Tuesday (maybe because of it), the questions about Obama are exploding. Just how is he going to do what he says he wants to do: bring the nation together to find solutions to long-simmering problems? And do the numbers behind his policies add up? Here come the barbs and arrows.

Some are trivial points, such as those about a comment made by his wife, Michelle, about how she is proud of the nation now that it is voting for her husband. But others are substantive, such as the very penetrating column by economist Robert Samuelson in Newsweek, saying Obama’s numbers for saving Social Security and implementing a universal health care plan while still cutting some taxes don’t add up.

But there’s another aspect to the Obama phenomenon I’m watching that is up close and alive on the campus where I work. He has inspired many young people who didn’t know a hanging chad from a superdelegate. He has captured their attention, moved them emotionally, inspired them to become involved. And that is no small accomplishment. Friends my age say it’s reminiscent of how John F. Kennedy inspired a generation of formerly apathetic young people to become involved with government and politics.

In a nation that has witnessed an almost steady decline in voter participation, especially among young people, what Obama has done — and you have to give him the lion’s share of the credit — is important. In state after state, the Democrats have turned out in unprecedented numbers in primaries and caucuses, and the youth vote has been a factor.

A premed major in my class on journalism and politics, Thomas Kingsley, visited me in my office last week to gain more insight into what’s happening in this campaign and to find out how he might become more politically active. Thursday morning he informed me that he had not only signed up with the Obama organization on campus but was being sent to Rhode Island this week to prepare for the March 4 primary. And this isn’t an isolated case.

Voter turnout

I know my political history well enough to appreciate that young people’s voting turnout has always been significantly smaller than that of older people. And in a general election, as compared with a primary, young voters have historically mirrored the vote of the population as a whole. I still recall 1972, when Democrats believed that the first generation of 18-year-old voters, fed up with President Richard Nixon’s prolonging the Vietnam War, would give Democrat Sen. George McGovern the boost he needed to score an upset. It was a daydream. The young people ages 18-25 voted for Nixon in about the same proportion as their parents — but, of course, in much smaller numbers. McGovern carried one state: Massachusetts.

But we should never underestimate the importance of inspiration and the ability to communicate effectively in a system as complex and hard to move as ours. When was the last time we came together as a nation to deal with the really difficult challenges facing our country, instead of just kicking the can forward? How far back do you have to go to remember a time when there was a sense of bipartisanship and a willingness to sacrifice in the short run for long-term goals?

For a generation that knows only trench political warfare, vetoes and stalemates, the hope of something different, something better, is awfully attractive. Can Obama be a transforming figure? I’m intrigued that a lot of young people, who don’t carry around my baggage of dashed hopes, think he might be.

X James Klurfeld is a professor of journalism at Stony Brook University. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune.