{"id":2717,"date":"2008-01-09T14:33:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-09T20:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/obama-inspires-americas-youth-but-can-he-deliver\/"},"modified":"2008-01-09T14:33:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-09T20:33:00","slug":"obama-inspires-americas-youth-but-can-he-deliver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/obama-inspires-americas-youth-but-can-he-deliver\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama inspires America’s youth, but can he deliver?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In his song Waiting on the World to Change<\/a>, John Mayer says America<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>\u2019s young people do care about politics, but they don\u2019t participate because they don\u2019t believe their voices can make a difference in a system that\u2019s rigged to ensure those who have power keep it. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Barack Obama<\/a> challenges such people to dare to hope, to reject cynicism and join together behind him to challenge that system. If his early success is any indication, Obama may be accomplishing something rarely seen in American politics. During an Iowa Caucus with record turnout, it was young people and independents who gave him the win.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The same didn\u2019t happen Tuesday in New Hampshire<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, so it\u2019s too early to know whether the Obama movement is real.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

No matter who you support in the presidential race, it\u2019s hard to argue that Obama\u2019s ability to inspire young people isn\u2019t a good thing. More important than any political view is ensuring that young people are engaged and ready to lead this nation into the future.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been listening to Obama\u2019s plea to the youth of America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> for months, wanting to believe it would resonate, cynically suspecting it would not. I\u2019m 29 and have been frustrated with the inaction of my peers since I first became interested in politics as a teenager.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The thing is, I\u2019m as cynical about our nation\u2019s political system as anyone I know. But that has never stopped me from participating. I write about politics for a living. I\u2019ve voted in every election since I turned 18.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I believe Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> is corrupted by the influence of Corporate America and partisan bickering. I\u2019m interested in the Unity08<\/a> movement because it takes aim at those problems, and I\u2019m skeptical about whether Obama or any other Democratic or Republican presidential candidate would be a real agent of change.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I watched the candidates debate on Saturday. While some of the Republicans used the \u201cchange\u201d buzzword during the debate, none clearly defined what they mean.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton<\/a> said it means ending GOP domination in Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. John Edwards<\/a> said change involves taking on special interests that have a stranglehold on Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. Obama agreed, but said change also includes inspiring citizens to take control of their government after kicking out the special interests. Bill Richardson<\/a> said calling for change has little value unless a candidate can back it up with a history of enacting change.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> agreed, and also said \u201chaving the first woman president is a huge change.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

True. But the fundamental change that\u2019s needed \u2013 and for which Obama is calling \u2013 transcends gender, ethnicity and political affiliation. That\u2019s the reason Obama\u2019s message inspires young people. My problem is that my cynical side doesn\u2019t believe the president can change the system. I believe Obama intends to make such change, but Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> had a point on Saturday when she said Obama should guard against \u201craising the false hopes of our country about what can be delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Can Obama inspire and lead a movement that changes Washington<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>? Iowans were apparently convinced he can. I\u2019m interested in the Unity08 movement because I\u2019m not convinced he or anyone else can accomplish such change from within.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I believe Americans want the sort of change Obama promotes. Time will tell whether they believe he can accomplish it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A version of this article was published today in the Albuquerque Tribune<\/a> and on the Diary of a Mad Voter<\/a> blog published by the Denver Post\u2019s Politics West<\/a> and the independent Web site NewWest.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his song Waiting on the World to Change, John Mayer says America\u2019s young people do care about politics, but they don\u2019t participate because they don\u2019t believe their voices can make a difference in a system that\u2019s rigged to ensure those who have power keep it. Barack Obama challenges such people to dare to hope, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}