By Alan Caruba
In 1956, Adlai Stevenson was campaigning for the presidency a second time and stopped by the campus of the University of Miami. I was asked to join the line of students who got to shake his hand. Suffice to say I was utterly clueless as to who he was and what the election was all about. I was 19 at the time, Eisenhower was President and on his way to a second term. I was a sophomore in every sense of the word.
In those halcyon, post-war years the economy was booming and students could look forward to finding jobs and beginning their careers. Some of us were subject to the Draft in which we gave two years to service in the armed forces after college, but it was understood that this was a debt we owed our nation.
It is very different for today’s college students and graduates.
In an August 1 Wall Street Journal column, Daniel Henninger noted that a WSJ-NBC poll indicated that “enthusiasm for the election among voters aged 18-34 is sloping downward, from above 60% when Mr. Obama was new to below 50% now that he is known.”
“Whatever change the youth vote had hoped for then, the most compelling delta in their world since is the rate of non-employment for those aged 18 to 24, which has risen nearly 16%. A study compiled recently by the Associated Press, based on academic surveys, said the combined rate of youth unemployment and underemployment was an astounding 50%.”
Does anyone seriously think those young people who do rouse themselves to vote are going to stick with Obama?
Generation Opportunity is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to engage younger Americans, generally 18-29 years of age, “who find themselves dissatisfied with the status quo and willing to create a better tomorrow.” And who does not, at this point, want a better tomorrow?
An April 16-22 poll that Generation Opportunity commissioned revealed the following information:
77% of young people ages 18-29 either have or will delay a major life change or purchase due to economic factors:
o 44% delay buying a home;
o 28% delay saving for retirement;
o 27% delay paying off student loans or other debt;
o 27% delay going back to school/getting more education or training;
o 26% delay changing jobs/cities;
o 23% delay starting a family;
o 18% delay getting married.
Just 31% of 18-29 year-olds approve of President Obama's handling of youth unemployment. More than two-thirds of this age cohort is very unhappy with Obama.
Generation Opportunity’s president is Paul T. Conway, a former chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Labor and former chief of staff of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. “Today’s unemployment number is another indicator,” said Conway, “of the far greater, more fundamentally devastating, and still under-reported story impacting young Americans.”
“For nearly three and a half years, young Americans have experienced historically high unemployment levels—levels that are among the highest since the end of World War II—that tell the story of millions of delayed dreams and careers of the next greatest generation.”
On August 3rd, Generation Opportunity reported that millennial unemployment was at 12.7 percent in July. For African-American youth (18-29) the rate was 22.3 percent. For Hispanics it was 14.0 percent, and for women it was 12.6 percent.
In 2008, many—like other Americans—this generation was excited to vote for the first Afro-American to become President and by his message of hope and change.
They were energized as well by the use of the Internet to secure their campaign contributions and organized to help his campaign. They are the most “connected” generation in the history of the nation thanks to advances in communications technology.
The Internet has become the great engine of capitalism, but Obama is the antithesis of capitalism. He has done everything in his power to crash the economy and the younger generation knows it because they have been disastrously impacted by his policies.
Daniel Henninger wrote “The youth vote this time comes down to one thing: is this candidate going to plug me into the new American world, or not? The Obama presidency has knocked four years of earning power off a lot of people’s lives. Maybe someone should create a website for user reviews of the presidency.”
The youth vote—if they vote—includes a lot of young people living at home with their parents, unable to find a job, saddled with college loan debt, and no doubt deeply unhappy with Barack Hussein Obama. They have many reasons to vote for Mitt Romney, a successful venture capitalist.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
Comment
Comment by Neil Thomas Goeckerman on August 9, 2012 at 10:02am Those sitting at home may be seduced by Obummer's give away welfare State and Healthcare on the parents policy. If this destroyer of the American way is re-elected I fear I will have to get in touch with Uncle Ted.
Comment by Robert H. Woodman on August 7, 2012 at 9:21pm Alan,
You wrote:
Does anyone seriously think those young people who do rouse themselves to vote are going to stick with Obama?
Some of them will, yes. I live and work near a major university, and I can tell you that some of these young voters are so completely brainwashed that they will vote Obama no matter what. I can also tell you that many young people today have imbibed the kool-aid of dependency and have no qualms whatsoever about voting for a man who promises to feed, clothe, and house them at other people's expense if only they will vote for him.
Comment by Let Freedom Ring on August 7, 2012 at 4:13pm Great article Alan. You are truly a warrior for truth and freedom. Obama and his imps are warriors for lies and deception. Alot of those young people Alan spoke of, live in an alternate universe and in 2008, got cought up in the lies and deception. They just wanted to hear something good, and ultimately they fell hard for obama's warm and fuzzy hope and change message. Obama doesn't have that now, and after his miserable tenure, his lies are as obvious as the nose on his face. Nobody likes being lied to... especially when your future is at stake.
This really should be a blowout for Romney, but every time obama speaks, I smell a rat. He is so slimy and currupt, no treachery is too low and no lie is too dispicable. We are seeing it already, and it will only get worst.
I like what Rich said...Bring on Allen West. I really don't think they will be able to demonize him like they did Sarah Palin. He has the energy, hits hard with the truth, and knows exactly what free America is up against.
I remember when McCain said that obama was an honorable man and deserved respect. Obama proved the opposite, and went on to beat McCain and Palin to death with lies and deception.
Romney take heed. FIGHT HARD AND FIGHT TO WIN! America is with you!
Comment by Rich Knoch on August 7, 2012 at 2:03pm jps . . . . . . Romney was raised to be honest and respectful of other folks . . . . obama was raised in a hateful environment of his making, exactly the opposite of Romney.
obama's strength is in division, Class Warfare and compound lying.
Hopefully, Romney will come to his senses and name a VP who will provide the Dems a "Fight for the TRUTH".
For me, the obvious VP would be Alan West. He'll take the battle to the Dems Front Porch and won't back down as our RINO's have so often done . . . . . . with painful regularity.
The sooner we flush RINO's from the system . . . . the sooner we take our nation back.
My guess is that our nation is somewhere in the area of 60+% Conservative, 20 percent Independent and 20%, or less, wackoid Dems.
Comment by Monica Babcock on August 7, 2012 at 1:32pm Mary, you are right but I would also add that parents are not teaching their children financial responsibiliy. In my area, the enrollment at the community college has increased because of the money issue. I also started out at a community college and had the best prof in political science - he made my into the conservative I am today because he taught the truth not the gargabe the kids get today.
Comment by george repasky on August 7, 2012 at 12:51pm anybody who wants to be remembered for this crap has 2 b insane
Comment by Mary Creekmore on August 7, 2012 at 11:46am You know, you really can't blame this group of young people over any other group of young people in the past. Their heads are filled with so much garbage from some teachers and professors that they cannot see the forest for the trees. It was the same way when I was young. I just worry about them because by the time they leave college they are so, so deep in debt. That wasn't such an issue when I was young. Either you could afford college or you couldn't. Parents wouldn't allow their children to become slaves to lenders.
Comment by Rich Knoch on August 7, 2012 at 10:45am A tough lesson has been learned by those who voted for obama . . . . while knowing nothing about him or his maniacal plans for America.
Younger folks have learned that a good speech, fancy shoes, bogus education, hidden lifestyle and outright socialist intent, certainly do not make for a leader of a Free Nation.
Plus . . . . . the younger generation, finally, understand debt and how long it will take them to pay it off . . . for generations and generations and generations . . . . .
Comment by dave williams on August 7, 2012 at 10:45am It still doesn't matter what your fine article says. Obama is killing incompenent romney in all swing states. Romney is looking like a big fool. Romney hood will stick to him like glue, he is making same inept mistakes here, just as he did with mccain.ROMNEY JUST DOESN'T GET IT.
Comment by Roc29 on August 7, 2012 at 10:21am At the time the progressives were agitating to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 a survey showed that average Americans didn't cast their first vote until they were 26. (They were too busy with school and trying to find a career and start a family to pay much attention to what was going on in government.)
Since the Progressive strategy is to find divisive issues with which to fragment our culture and divide their opposition this was just another such issue.
The last time I saw anything on this, it was still 26. The problem is that those who keep the average age from rising, by voting sooner, tend to be those indoctrinated by our universities.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
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