Spring Break
Why college students still love Obama
by Naomi Spector
Staff writer
Op-Ed | 11/4/08
Posted online at 1:35 AM EST on 11/4/08
In recent months, many speculators have attributed the extraordinary level of youth activism on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama to the increase in the left-leaning college demographic over previous generations. This may be true, but it seems to me that the more important reason students support Obama so overwhelmingly is that they tend to be less ideological and more pragmatic than older voters.
It is not simply that students prefer the doctrine of the Democratic Party. Students want less partisan bickering, more cooperation and less ideological rigidity from their government. The Daily Athenaeum, the student newspaper of swing-state school West Virginia University, published an endorsement of Obama in which it pleaded, "The editorial board asks that whoever wins the presidency extend their administrations beyond party lines and see the nation's interest before their own." It then added, "It is our opinion that Obama would be the best person to do this."
Part of Obama's support seems to stem from impatience among the youth with the divisive ideology of the Christian right, which ascended to a position of great influence in the 1980s. Hot-button cultural issues that used to resonate with voters are no longer at the forefront. Once extremely controversial issues-such as immigration and abortion-no longer appear to be major sources of contention.
In this modern age, young voters are more cosmopolitan and globally conscious than they used to be, and so are less ideologically rigid and more accepting of cultural differences. One fascinating example is the student backlash against the whisper campaign that Obama is a secret Muslim, an untrue claim based on an irrational fear of his unusual background. The New York Times reported over the summer that thousands of students had changed their names on Facebook to include the middle name Hussein in solidarity with Obama.
"I am sick of Republicans pronouncing Barack Obama's name like it was some sort of cuss word," said Jeff Strabone, a student interviewed by The New York Times.
It is not simply that students prefer the doctrine of the Democratic Party. Students want less partisan bickering, more cooperation and less ideological rigidity from their government. The Daily Athenaeum, the student newspaper of swing-state school West Virginia University, published an endorsement of Obama in which it pleaded, "The editorial board asks that whoever wins the presidency extend their administrations beyond party lines and see the nation's interest before their own." It then added, "It is our opinion that Obama would be the best person to do this."
Part of Obama's support seems to stem from impatience among the youth with the divisive ideology of the Christian right, which ascended to a position of great influence in the 1980s. Hot-button cultural issues that used to resonate with voters are no longer at the forefront. Once extremely controversial issues-such as immigration and abortion-no longer appear to be major sources of contention.
In this modern age, young voters are more cosmopolitan and globally conscious than they used to be, and so are less ideologically rigid and more accepting of cultural differences. One fascinating example is the student backlash against the whisper campaign that Obama is a secret Muslim, an untrue claim based on an irrational fear of his unusual background. The New York Times reported over the summer that thousands of students had changed their names on Facebook to include the middle name Hussein in solidarity with Obama.
"I am sick of Republicans pronouncing Barack Obama's name like it was some sort of cuss word," said Jeff Strabone, a student interviewed by The New York Times.
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