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Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as Democrats
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The college vote is up for grabs this year - to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.
Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.
"Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?" asked Scott Keeter, the director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan group. "The jury is still out."
How and whether millions of college students vote will help determine if Republicans win enough seats to retake the House or Senate, overturning the balance of power on Capitol Hill, and with it, Mr. Obama's agenda. If students tune out and stay home it will also carry a profound message for American society about a generation that seemed so ready, so recently, to grab national politics by the lapels and shake.
SNIP
I'm sure Gibbs would blame this on the "professional Left" but got news for the Obama Admin and the Democratic Leadership in general, look in the mirror and you will see the source of the problem. Making promises and then caving into Right Wing bullying does not inspire anyone, young or adult, to want to join you.
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Kristin Johnson, 23, like many other students interviewed here in recent days, said that a vote for Democrats in 2008, however passionate it was, did not a Democrat make. But she bristles just as much at the idea of being called a Republican.
"It's like picking a team when you really don't want to root for either team," said Ms. Johnson, a communication studies major, who said she was undecided about parties and politics going into the general election campaign.
This attitude happens when Democrats run away from George Lakoff's framing philosophy. Democrats have failed to advocate strongly for Democratic and Progressive values and follow through on them. What we see is during election time, Democrats lip sync some policy positions that many voters can support, and then after getting elected the Democratic politicians run away from it because they're afraid of Glenn Beck.
Many students here, especially seniors nearing graduation, said that worries about the economy, and about getting a job after graduation, had filtered through the campus, dampening enthusiasm for Democrats in Congress and Mr. Obama.
Philip Stricker, 21, a biology major who voted for Mr. Obama but says he has not been paying much attention to politics lately, uses a nontechnical term to describe the phenomenon.
"There's a vibe," he said on a recent afternoon, while pumping weights at the gym. "Right now it seems like Republicans just care a lot more than Democrats."
A spokeswoman for the university's chapter of College Democrats, Mandi Asay, 22, said her group battled apathy on one hand and anger on the other.
"People are angry - about the budget deficit, health care plan, angry about this and that," she said. "I feel like Republicans definitely, definitely have a chance of getting back on their feet."
If young voters think that Republicans seem to care more than Democrats, then Rep. Alan Grayson is right, "Fire Robert Gibbs!" And I would add "Fire F*cking Rahm Emanuel too!" The White House has done a terrible job of advocating for core Democratic values both during their legislative battles as well as to the public.
If the Democrats lose one or both houses of Congress this fall, then Obama will have wasted Howard Dean's efforts to rebuild the Party from the grassroots up, and Obama, not Howard Dean and not the "professional Left", will be responsible for this setback of the Democratic Party.
I think that the Democratic Party can recover from this setback, but only if we can find leaders, like Rep. Alan Grayson, who love rallying the base and love kicking the Right Wing nutjobs where it hurts. The Republicans, even if they win one or both Houses of Congress in November, are still in self-destruct mode
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GOP Will 'Descend Into A Brawl' Upon Taking Power: Top Strategist).
They will overreach as they have publicly stated that they have already planned on shutting down the government and will try to impeach President Obama. Unfortunately, thousands of people, like the unemployed, the unfortunate, and our returning veterans, will suffer from this 2 year Republican hate-fest. |
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