tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064041625174382593.post1727445907769628116..comments2023-10-26T05:48:21.879-04:00Comments on MizB...AGING VIEWS FROM THE TOWER: Obama KidsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064041625174382593.post-77680886526559583872008-09-02T05:29:00.000-04:002008-09-02T05:29:00.000-04:00Ian -- Thank you so much for your detailed, though...Ian -- Thank you so much for your detailed, thoughtful response. I was humbled by it, and rather embarrassed by my original post, which now reads to me as preachy and condescending. I have to admit that I don't connect well with young people, which suddenly strikes me as very sad, given the bright kid I was myself. I'm glad that you and your friends are out there and apologize for underestimating your understanding and commitment. And you're an excellent writer. Sincerely, Jeanne BrowneMizBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11930112615117446368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064041625174382593.post-46727777078012325322008-09-02T02:14:00.000-04:002008-09-02T02:14:00.000-04:00Hi MizB,I'm Ian (from the above article)and I woul...Hi MizB,<BR/>I'm Ian (from the above article)and I would like to respond to your post. You're absolutely right about the necessity of compromise and continuing to support the Obama campaign without becoming disillusioned by slight changes in policy. However, I think you make a mistake in suggesting that young voters are so involved in the idea of Sen. Obama that his slight changes in policy effect a psudo-emotional response. Youth voters do not see the Senator as a celebrity. To be frank we already lived through the Clinton years, and Pres. Clinton is the archetypal "cult of personality" politico. No, youth are attracted to Sen. Obama because he takes positions on issues that are favorable to us. Youth are issues voters like anyone else, possibly more than many other groups due to one defining factor -- time. Young people have to live in this ever changing nation for longer than older voters. Because of this we are hypersensitive to issues which, if handled incorrectly, have effects that will play out over a long period of time. Chief among these issues is the environment. Even the most aggressive studies show that Generation X and Y will be well advanced in age by the time global warming starts to dramatically effect humanity, but I'll still be in my 50s. Thus the ire in young voters over the possibility of offshore drilling, the same reasoning explains why young voters where so upset over Sen. Obama's vote for amnesty in the whole telecom-wiretapping affair. We have to deal with the slow erosion of the constitution for all of our adult lives now, not just our Golden Years. In the past, young voters often have been uninformed. However, my generation is at the apex of a paradigm shift towards total access to information. Put simply, if we want to learn something, anything really, it is just a click away. There is no piece of information that an older voter has access to which I cannot also access. Therefor it is wrong to assume that younger voters feel personally betrayed when a politician strays from a promise they made; younger voters are simply voting based on the issues most important to them. It is not so different than the response that might be garnered among female voters if a presidential candidate voted against an initiative to equalize pay in the workplace. That being said, I will still be voting for Sen. Obama in November. In fact, I will still be campaigning for him everyday from now until November. That is because he stands the closest to me on the issues.<BR/>Peace,<BR/>Ian Bowman-Henderson<BR/>ian.bowmanhenderson@gmail.comIan Bowman-Hendersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11691504237753552135noreply@blogger.com