Their turn: Young voters relish chance to make history
By Kelsey Volkmann / The Examiner
BALTIMORE - When the seats fill in a darkened auditorium on the Johns Hopkins University campus, students squeeze into the aisles, sit on the floor and cram along walls to catch a glimpse of actor Kal Penn.
The 200-some undergraduates aren’t here to watch Penn, a college audience favorite, deliver lines from his marijuana-laced comedy “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” or the TV hit “House.”
Today, the talk turns to presidential politics, and the audience of teenagers and 20-somethings does what would have been unthinkable in many campaigns past: Everybody hangs onto every word.
“Who likes Barack Obama?” asks the 30-year-old actor, eliciting whoops and applause from the students, many of whom learned about the event from Facebook. Even at a university like Hopkins, long chided for its apathy about activism — because, the students joke, they are too busy studying — a new politically engaged generation has sprung up.
It’s the Millennials’ turn
They’re the millennials, many of them first-time voters who turn to social networking sites and blogs to learn their friends’ picks for president.
They can’t remember a time when a Bush or Clinton didn’t live in the White House. They relish the chance of making history by electing America’s first black or female president. Nationally, they’re participating in elections the most since the voting age was lowered in 1972. And they’ll come out in droves, political analysts predict, for today’s Maryland primary, a state election finally relevant thanks to an earlier date and a tight race between Illinois Sen. Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
“We are the Bush generation. An 18-year-old today has lived with Bush as president since age 11,” says Daniel Marans, a sophomore history major at Hopkins and programming chairman for the school’s College Democrats. “I think this election has really energized young people because so many younger Americans are tired of the older generation making decisions for the country based on outmoded social values and cultural conflicts.”
For this generation, Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Sicko” formed their views on foreign policy and health care, and Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” warned them about global warming.
They turn to YouTube to watch candidates’ speeches and sing along to the star-studded “Yes We Can” music video from Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am.
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Why I'm voting for Barack Obama
I'm an ordinary American citizen. I'm a health care professional that works hard for a living. I'm very worried about the future and the great challenges that face our nation now and for future generations. I first heard about Barack Obama in the 2004 DNC, as the keynote speaker. He not only inspired me with his brilliant speech, he offered a light at the end of tunnel...a tunnel made up of out-of-touch politicians that seem to come from a different planet, honestly, just saying the words voters want to hear so they can get elected. How big of a turn-off is that when deciding who to vote for? I knew Barack will get to where he is today because I noticed he's not like the rest, and not like any candidate that have come before him. I saw a person with a deep conviction of doing what's right and what's good for the American people. He's a committed public servant with amazing life, academic, and work experiences that are unmatched by any candidate, past or present. His personality, eloquence, and intelligence will do so much to restore the bleeding image of "American President"; abroad and at home. He has the intangibles of a great leader.
He's not just a great speaker, thinker, and leader. He's a do-er, that has fought hard for common people throughout his life. He tirelessly worked as a champion of the people for the people before the campaign, and he's brought the same level of energy to this long campaign. It's easy to see that his tenure as President will be approached with the same, if not heightened, level of energy, thoughtfulness, and dedication that's severely needed out of our next president. Out all the differences between him and the other candidates, the most important is that he WILL bring people together to get a lot more things done, important things that we NEED to get done as soon as possible. Things like health care, the war, alternative energy, our economy, and foreign relations. Creative ideas and solutions for so many problems. We're so behind in the world in so many things that we cannot afford to not elect Senator Obama. There are bad, okay, good candidates out there. Obama clearly is the best and that's why I'm voting for him.
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