Off Topic, On Point | Obama may not bring the change we desire

Evan Casper-Futterman Columnist

Two Facebook groups have probably appeared on your news feed recently: “One Million Strong for Barack Obama” and “America for Barack Obama.” So, is Barack your friend on Facebook? I don’t mean to poke too much fun—after all, enthusiasm among young people for Obama’s candidacy is both authentic and significant. It seems that Obama has sparked something that other candidates have not. His candidacy is also particularly relevant at Vassar, since his center-left campaign will hinge on overwhelming support from center-left youths, which comprise much of the College.

Yet Obamania, like any mania, presents some oft-overlooked shortcomings along with its more visible benefits. In the midst of the excitement, it is possible that we young citizens are missing some important political lessons about the multiple avenues available for progressive change. On the left, Obama has been called a “prince of banality.” I don’t fully agree with this characterization, but it does possess an underlying logic: Isn’t Obama too moderate to be the candidate for young (or for that matter, all) Americans hungry for change? Shouldn’t a candidate with a “new” kind of politics for “young America” be slightly more threatening, even if he is still optimistic and positive?

Obamania is not all bad news. Obama’s popularity signals important positive aspects about us young folk. He brings a freshness to mainstream politics that is optimistic but not uncritical. Our support for him has very little to do with his ideas or policies, most of which are neither controversial nor remarkable. Rather, our ability to identify with him comes from our shared lack of experience. As young people on the cusp of entering the real world, we constantly deal with criticisms relating to our “readiness” for the world that we are set to inherit, and ultimately, run. Obama represents our response to that criticism: How can you know until you let us try?

Obama’s lack of experience in national government doesn’t render him a weak or “lightweight” candidate, much like you and I shouldn’t consider ourselves inherently less intelligent than adults simply because we are younger. He represents a key message of young people to adults: Experience generally correlates with wisdom, but does not result in it. This is the cautionary maxim that all young people use to check their parents’ generation, and it is, and should be, what drives young people to support political figures, both inside and outside the formal realm of electoral party politics.

But here’s the rub. Obama represents moderation on too many fronts for the supposedly “new” kind of politics that has become associated with him. Moderation predominates Obama’s public representation of his past, beyond his current policy packages. His history is of an adversity borne of difference—but not necessarily blackness. His self-characterization is more a narrative of the immigrant experience than any other. He explains himself as a “skinny kid with a funny name.” He is a child of the world: of Africa, of Indonesia, of Hawaii and of Kansas. His ethnic fusion certainly is a very American tale, and his success is indeed gratifying in light of this. As he pointed out in a speech, “In no other country is my story even possible.” This is a politically wise statement—it could also be true for my family and me: I’m also a skinny kid with a funny name, born to a lesbian couple. In broadening his image, he is attempting to skirt the issue of race by making himself a post-racial man, and thus leaving lingering racial issues to the next youthful, hopeful candidate.

Obama’s exuberance and reform-minded approach represents a voice within the system that speaks to young people of different classes and creeds. That he has chosen to work within “the system” and can still garner support from young people is important, since it shows that we’re willing to participate in the formal structures of our country. But it is also somewhat saddening. We have accepted our parents’ creations and blunders and promised them that we will not revolt against them. We have taken the moderate stance that our grandparents wish our parents had taken.

Youth is not meant to be a time of moderation. Take your cues from wherever you like—from the animal kingdom to human physiology—but the message is clear: mix it up, be passionate (and pimply), make mistakes, and ultimately, be idealistic. I don’t mean this in some kind of condescending way—passion and idealism should remain with us throughout our lives, but as my momma always says, if you don’t got it now, you’re not likely to pick it up later. I’m not suggesting that we totally abandon Obama—he needs us. But before our Obamania becomes dogma, we should remember that we only get one shot at being young, and there are many venues outside of party politics where meaningful progressive change can, should, and must be made.