Addendum! One final entry for the Youth Media Blog-a-Thon on “regime change.“

If there was any question about young people’s power to change the world, the 2008 presidential election answered it. Beyond the fact that 66% of young voters (18-29) voted for Obama, the real impact was on the primaries. Obama consistently outpaced Hillary Clinton among the younger age groups. When you consider the razor-thin margin by which he won, you can state with certainty that if it wasn’t for young voters, there would have been a Clinton vs. McCain general election. “Yes We Can” is only true because so many young voters can say “Yes We Did.”

For a nonpartisan organization like HeadCount (www.HeadCount.org), the actual outcome of the election is not our concern. But the facts are the facts, and it can’t be ignored that the very demographic we targeted for voter registration are the ones who skewed strongest toward the candidate who won. It means our work really does have political impact, and that young people really have become a key voting bloc.

Continue reading “You Hired Barack Obama; Now It’s Time to Manage Him”