Thursday, January 10, 2008
The Obama Youth
Elections piece by
Ari Kaufman
Ari Kaufman
As America steamrolls through the doldrums of a bitter cold winter, the presidential primary season is heating up with each passing week. But with the recent “historic” triumph by Barack Obama in Iowa, it begs the question of how close this novice will actually get to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when all is said, done, counted and perhaps protested.
The night of the Iowa caucuses, my fiancée and I visited one of her college-aged acquaintances to see pictures from her holiday trip to Prague. This girl, apolitical but an Obama supporter to the core, reluctantly joined us for the evening while we watched CNN and Fox for the polling results.
As it appeared more and more like Barack Hussein Obama would prevail and CNN’s analysts reacted with glee, I muttered “What a country. This empty suit has not made three salient points in his 11 month campaign and here we are.”
Suddenly, a roommate popped out---the religious Christian from a military family who has an Israel flag in her room---and agreed with me, which led to 20 minutes of the most erudite discourse I have ever had with a 22 year-old girl. She regaled me with her stories of summer ROTC training in El Paso, her support of Mitt Romney and her anger over the mainstream media. To say this was a breath of fresh air would be an understatement.
During the conversation though, one comment caught my attention, though did not surprise me. She noted that in her senior level Political Science class, she took an unscientific poll and concluded that no more than ten percent of her classmates could name all six of the major presidential candidates. These “students” all have blackberrys, I-pods, wireless laptops and abundant free time, but somehow that info keeps eluding them. I told her I would be more shocked if I had not studied and written about the appalling state (and biases) of today’s educational system for nearly three years now since my resignation from teaching.
But alas, minus the information and knowledge to cast an informed vote, Obama is overwhelmingly their man. Is ignorance bliss? Is he promising to show up at the next keg party, or put new soda machines in the cafeterias? Maybe petting zoos? After all, Lynn University in Boca Raton, FLA, used some of the $40,000 per year they charge in tuition to hire a petting zoo to be on campus during Final Week so students could “relax” and “relieve stress.”
The feel good mentality is currently wafting through college campuses at the same rate and fervency as the tendentious political crusades in the classrooms have for decades. One glaring example is that despite the best efforts of many for balance, many schools like the University of Iowa now have registered Democrats sitting in 27 of their 27 history professorships.
Chairman of the History Department at the US Marine Corps University, Mark Moyar, wrote in the National Review back in October---after he his application to Iowa did not even advance past the initial screening of resumes since it was clear he had a conservative tilt---"Rarely have the hypocrisy and mendacity of academia been so thoroughly exposed as in the history department’s damage-control campaign.”
Here in 2008, the freshman senator from Illinois is undoubtedly the trendy candidate of choice for the young and the well-rested (since most collegians rarely arise before 10am). And the trendiest of all US magazines, Rolling Stone, understands.
As they opined on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, “There’s no doubt the under-35 crowd are Obama’s base. And he’s done a remarkable job organizing them. He’s hired the former political director of Rock the Vote. He’s reached out to 17-year-old high school seniors — his “Barack Stars” — for support. And if you’ve been to an Obama rally this political season, you know he’s got the star power to get them “fired up” and “ready to go.”
Who knew the electoral politics could so easily denigrate into a pep rally? And the media has been in step the whole way. While liberal columnists will excoriate Hillary, Edwards and of course, any Republican, Obama escapes nearly all of their ire. As synidcated columnist Mark Steyn observed even before Barack announced his candidacy, “According to the new rules from the American Media Practitioners Association, we’re obliged to make at least one flattering reference to Barack Obama per column, preferably accompanied by that picture USA Today used with his head framed by a kind of luminous halo thing.”
Facetious? No more so than how Steyn and most writers like me feel Obama’s entire platitudinous campaign runs. While Edwards “speaks from the heart” about “corporate greed” and a “vanishing middle class,” (even though nearly everyone I personally know would consider themselves middle class) and Hillary talks of her “experience,” Obama rejects the way “politics has become so bitter and partisan.” He naturally represents “a different kind of politics.” Obama, in case you missed it, is a “change agent.” No one knows what that means, but they like it, especially young folks.
The tone of Michael Moore’s newsletter the morning after Iowa was ecstatic as he commended the Obama Youth. Two days after he had said he “didn’t know what Obama stood for” and could not decide which Democrat he’d recommend supporting since his favorite, Dennis Kucinich, was polling abysmally, the bilious “documentarian” was teeming as he recanted the Obama talking points. Here’s just a smidgeon:
“What an amazing night, not just for Barack Obama, but for America...Thank you, Iowa, for this historic moment. Thank you for at least letting us believe that we are better than what we often seem to be. And to have so many young people come out and vote—and vote for Obama—this is a proud moment. It all began with the record youth turnout in 2004—the ONLY age group that Kerry won—and they came back out tonight en force. Good on every single one of you! “
Thankfully, every candidate Moore endorses falls apart quickly (Howard Dean, Wes Clark, Gore, then Kerry last election), so this may work out well.
And that knowledgeable roommate gives us more hope.
Like the Israeli girl who maintained an Islamic Awareness blog for so long as a UC Irvine student that she received death threats from the Muslim Student Association, the “conservative Christian girl” (as he friends call her mockingly, though she never calls them “atheist liberals") is joining the military upon graduation. And she sure as heck ain’t supporting Mr. Obama or falling for his charm and spurious policies. My erstwhile co-worker though, just a few years out of college, who recently resigned his military historian position due to “boredom” (as he listened to his I-pod and played internet checkers most days), absolutely is.
It simply might be time to amend the 26th Amendment and return the voting age to 21---or higher. In 1971, the do-gooder elites came along and pushed for 18, thinking that it would help to get “kids” interested in politics while finishing high school. And maybe it did. And maybe it still does, but the Obama fascination is proving the unintended consequences of letting emotion-filled youths vote. I turned 18 during an election year and, lacking the knowledge necessary to cast an informed ballot, did not vote.
Putting politics aside, fiscally, it is very evident that those who contribute least collect the most. When the percentage of voters who do not pay income tax becomes greater than the number of tax payers, we are in trouble. When this spills over to elections we are doomed. And this “doom and gloom scenario” does not even involve terrorism or global warming.
Ari Kaufman
http://www.ajkauf.com/
Posted by Ari Kaufman Ari Kaufman on 1/10/08 at 06:10 AM
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