Capturing the Youth
Former president Barack Obama showed up in Pennsylvania yesterday on behalf of Democrat Kamala Harris’ bid for the White House. The campaign said his appearance was to help tap into the youth vote.
The fact that they are using Obama to attract the youth vote…is why they haven’t connected to this point to that age group. They don’t understand it at all.
By “youth” we typically mean those age 18-24.
Obama won the presidency in 2008 and 2012, leaving office in early 2017.
That means in order to have been of voting age when Obama ran for re-election, the person would be 30 today. As for those old enough to vote today, at age 18…those folks were 10 when Obama left office, and he was the only president they knew—not as the cool young guy, but the old guy who had been in the job virtually their entire lives at that point.
So to think that Obama is going to score well with today’s 18-24 year olds…just because he did with that age group a generation ago…shows lack of understanding at multiple levels. What’s Obama going to do, tell them the story of how he couldn’t live without his Blackberry when he first took office?
There’s nothing worse than trying to act younger than you are. I tried, everybody tries…but it doesn’t work. And to think his aura will help her…when he’ll clearly outshine her at the podium…doesn’t seem like working from a position of strength. More like panic.
