On Obama and Young Voter Turnout

Today, my professor made the claim that Barack Obama was the first U.S. president to successfully get young voters to turnout in record numbers.

I think this statement isn't entirely accurate. In my opinion it was Bush who caused young people to get interested in politics, by allowing a target for all the angst felt across America. Obama was merely the candidate most easily capable of taking advantage of this.

To use metaphor, Bush dropped the ball and Obama was the one most capable of picking it up and running with it simply because he was the youngest, "hip"-est Democratic party candidate.

I tend to credit his success to his age. Obama was the youngest candidate of the two major-news-network-covered parties (and now is the 5th youngest president in U.S. history) and therefor was the easiest candidate for young people to identify with and place their hopes with.

Who knows, maybe I'm just being biased and only capable of seeing the politicians with the monetary resources to run within the two major parties as opportunists, scoundrels, and silver-tongued-"artists of the possible."



The greatest dreams that came into being were dreams that were at one time impossible.