Tough political realities quiet youth 'Obamamania'

[alienlovechild 75]

CHICAGO – Young Americans showed their collective power when they helped vote President Obama into office. Inspired by his message of "change," they knocked on doors, spread flyers, voted for him by a 2-1 margin, and partied like rock-the-vote stars when he won.

Since the election, though, that fervor has died down — noticeably. And while young people remain the president's most loyal supporters in opinion polls, a lot of people are wondering why that age group isn't doing more to build upon their newfound reputation as political influencers.

"It's one thing to get excited about a presidential candidate. It's another thing to become a responsible citizen," says Jennifer Donahue, political director for the New Hampshire Institute Of Politics. She and other political analysts thinks they have yet to prove themselves.

Professors and students themselves also are noticing the quiet on college campuses, which were hotbeds for "Obamamania" during the campaign.

"They're supportive, but in a bystander kind of way," says Laura Katz Olson, a political science professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Erin Carroll, a 19-year-old sophomore at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, blames the lack of engagement on her generation's short attention span. They want change — right now, she says — and haven't gotten it.

"I feel like everybody walks around with their cell phone and their laptops. We feel like we need everything immediately. So that's what we've become accustomed to," Carroll says. "We're the 'me-me-me' generation."

Russ Marshalek, a 27-year-old professional in Astoria, N.Y., observes his 20-something peers sitting back and letting the president do the work for them. "Rather than allow him to speak FOR us, we need to be inspired BY him, and volunteer in our communities, speak our minds, write, read, think, act," says Marshalek, a social media director who works with small businesses.

Such is the fate of Generation Y, as they're known, both praised for their willingness to volunteer but also maligned as the "entitlement generation" — eager to help but unsure how to deal with tumultuous times that are a first for many of them.

But to be fair, says political scientist Mike Wagner says, it's tough for young people — or any American, for that matter — to know how to get involved in issues with solutions that aren't always so clear-cut.

Volunteering for a candidate? Fairly easy to do. Helping solve some of the toughest issues to face our nation, from health care reform to a deep-seated financial crisis? Not so much.

"These aren't easy issues for young people. It's not 'Should we go to war in Iraq?' or 'Should gay marriage be legalized?'" says Wagner, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska.

He sees a lot of young people getting lost in the details, or bored by them. Or like a lot of us, they're more focused on their own worries, such as getting a job or paying off mountains of student loans.

"I think young people do have clout, and I think it's a mistake if he doesn't use them," says Mary Ellen Balchunis, a political science professor at LaSalle University, who counts Carroll among her students. Balchunis witnessed the fervor on campus during the campaign — the "dorm storming," when students persuaded their peers to go to rallies and eventually to the polls. She also recalls how students danced in the streets with nearby neighborhood residents after Obama won.

Certainly, health care was on their priority list then, and remains so. An AP-GfK poll conducted earlier this month found that two-thirds of 18- to 29-year-olds rated such reform as "very" or "extremely" important. So far, though, the proposed health care overhauls have failed win the support of a good number of them. Only about half of them said they approved of the way the president was handling health care and only 38 percent said they supported health care plans being discussed in Congress.

If he doesn't, Balchunis thinks that also could have negative ramifications for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, because those young voters will lose interest and won't bother to show up at the polls. That's what happened, she says, after her own young generation was initially excited about Bill Clinton when he was first elected president in 1992. Then, just two years later, Democrats lost control of Congress.

Letdown is inevitable to a point, says James Emmett, an unemployed recent college graduate.

"Of course I'm not as hopeful because everyone's been exhausted, absorbed by the economic realities, from man on the street to Congressman," says the 23-year-old artist who's living with his parents on Long Island, N.Y., while he looks for work. But, he adds, the president needs to "trust that we're still with him, build upon his community of support."

That's tough to do in a system that was set up to encourage legislative gridlock, even if it doesn't fit well with young people's hunger for change, says Joshua Dyck an assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo.

"Gridlock is as American as apple pie," Dyck says. "The question is whether getting excited about an election and then being exposed to the letdown, the gridlock and compromise, whether that will lead to an erosion of the voter turnout gains we saw in 2008."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_youth_hangover

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well... there are plenty of lazy people out there who think that their only responsibility to their own democracy starts and ends with the ballot box.

[Heracles 417]

Young Americans They certainly put the D in Douche.

I actually do not get along with many if any my age here. I'm just not interested in the ####### they're interested in. Who gives a #### what the steelers are doing this season. So I am not surprised to read that young Americans, who were spoiled from the last boom, assume you simply vote someone in and they just do all of the work. After all, this is how mommy and daddy did it all for them. I have never meet a more self-centered group of people in my entire life. A demographic (a generation) that actually believes in many ways the world revolves around them.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Booyah!

[The_Dude 1,142]

Young Americans They certainly put the D in Douche.

I actually do not get along with many if any my age here. I'm just not interested in the ####### they're interested in. Who gives a #### what the steelers are doing this season. So I am not surprised to read that young Americans, who were spoiled from the last boom, assume you simply vote someone in and they just do all of the work. After all, this is how mommy and daddy did it all for them. I have never meet a more self-centered group of people in my entire life. A demographic (a generation) that actually believes in many ways the world revolves around them.

I think that would make you the douche

[Heracles 417]

I think that would make you the douche

Well true, in their mind I would be the Douche. However, lets travel abroad and see who people there perceive is the actual douche.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Booyah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Something I'm really curious about BY, is how you are able to get through social situations in this country without pissing off everyone you meet!

Your poor wife must be constantly apologizing for you.

Its like a dinner guest sitting at the family table and sneering at everything from the decor, the cutlery, the food on the table and the host's dress sense.

The way you go on anyone would think you're one of those cantankerous old bastards who mutters under his breath in the supermarket, shakes his fist at small children and writes complaint letters to the local rag complaining about the price for frozen peas!

"in my day, we called our father's Sir, and you did what you were told.

If you didn't do your chores you were lucky to get off with a buggering and no supper.

Kids these days are so rude, inpolite and lazy. None of them will hold a door open, and why won't anyone help a poor old man get his tallywhacker out. Surely its not asking much!

As Marc would say, Get a grip SON!

[The_Dude 1,142]

I think that would make you the douche

Well true, in their mind I would be the Douche. However, lets travel abroad and see who people there perceive is the actual douche.

I'd venture to say that it would still be you

[Heracles 417]

Something I'm really curious about BY, is how you are able to get through social situations in this country without pissing off everyone you meet!

Your poor wife must be constantly apologizing for you.

Its like a dinner guest sitting at the family table and sneering at everything from the decor, the cutlery, the food on the table and the host's dress sense.

The way you go on anyone would think you're one of those cantankerous old bastards who mutters under his breath in the supermarket, shakes his fist at small children and writes complaint letters to the local rag complaining about the price for frozen peas!

"in my day, we called our father's Sir, and you did what you were told.

If you didn't do your chores you were lucky to get off with a buggering and no supper.

Kids these days are so rude, inpolite and lazy. None of them will hold a door open, and why won't anyone help a poor old man get his tallywhacker out. Surely its not asking much!

As Marc would say, Get a grip SON!

Actually her friends that are our age cannot stand me and I sure as hell cannot stand them. I have nothing to say to them nor care about what they have to say.

Our older friends are a different story, we get along well. Obviously I shut my mouth around them and do not discuss politics or my views. Particularly with my wife's AA friends. I am pretty easy going in person. I just don't do jack #### or bullshit.

I'd venture to say that it would still be you

This coming from someone in LA is funny. The winner of the region with the most douche bag teens from 1990 to 2009, in the world.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Booyah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Wow.

[The_Dude 1,142]

lol, so everyone in your age group that you've come into contact with thinks you're a douche, and you think likewise. That makes you Booyah, International Douche of Mystery (worldwide title).

[Heracles 417]

lol, so everyone in your age group that you've come into contact with thinks you're a douche, and you think likewise. That makes you Booyah, International Douche of Mystery (worldwide title).

Well in the US. I also prejudge so I don't give anyone under 33 the opportunity to make friends with me. My neighbor is in his late 20's and I have not said more than 10 words to him or his wife in the last 2 years. #### em. When they're outside chilling, is when I decide to mow my lawn

I didn't realize I had won that title from you Rob.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Booyah!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I just think its strange to take something as arbitrary as age and then draw a line in the phone book so you can say that you don't want to have anything to do with this entire section of the population.

Its a strange way to look at the world. It goes without saying that there's more to a person than how old they are, how much money they make, or what box they tick in the ballot booth.

[Danno 1,228]

Come on, this demographic is typically no deeper than a puddle of piss.

I singlehandedly "rescued" 2 early 20's guys who came at me all excited about Obama, way back when.

You ask'em common sense questions about Obama, and they realized they were more excited about "Hope and Change" than they were Obomer.

[Heracles 417]

I just think its strange to take something as arbitrary as age and then draw a line in the phone book so you can say that you don't want to have anything to do with this entire section of the population.

Its a strange way to look at the world. It goes without saying that there's more to a person than how old they are, how much money they make, or what box they tick in the ballot booth.

Not world just Yanks that age. We have nothing in common so why would I waste my time or theirs. Who gives a #### about college football. Probably why kids are so dumb. Our schools don't even have football or their equivalent teams. We go there to learn period. As such, only the academically minded get in. No such thing as sports scholarship. Heck, how many people do I have something in common with here. However, people do seem to smarten up in their 40s and have more to say and discuss than stupid ######.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Booyah!

[SMOKE 1,426]

Actually her friends that are our age cannot stand me and I sure as hell cannot stand them. I have nothing to say to them nor care about what they have to say.

Our older friends are a different story, we get along well. Obviously I shut my mouth around them and do not discuss politics or my views. Particularly with my wife's AA friends. I am pretty easy going in person. I just don't do jack #### or bullshit.

i hate everyone. i don't care how old they are.