Check out this latest video of Obama on BarackTV, a priceless two minutes where he directly addresses the role of young people in his campaign.
He starts by saying, “If you think about change in this country, it has often started with young people, because young people aren’t set in their ways, young people can imagine not just the world as it is, but the world as it might be.”
In a remark that closely relates to an earlier comment I made about “a participatory political platform” he states, “What we’re not going to be doing is saying to young people, “Here, sign-up and vote, but don’t be involved in policy stuff.” We want young people to be involved in coming up with ideas and formulating policies. We want you to really engage in the campaign and tell us what kind of issues are you concerned about and what you’re interested in.”
The consummating highlight came when he declared, “I’m willing to listen to young people and find out what wills them, what are the things they care about, what is the future they imagine, and then to work with you to shape that agenda.”
Senator Obama, you have just throttled my day to another level! Please know that we, the youth of America, are going to hold you to those precious and meaningful words, throughout both your campaign and the eight years of your youthful Presidency.
I am glad to hear he is going to listen to the youth; however how long do you think it will be before a politician is brave enough to make our streets safer and bring in large amounts of tax revenues, and reverse a bit of the years of discrimanitory and unconstitutional marijuana laws. Sixty-five percent of youth has, if you believe Lou Dobbs statitstics, used marijuana and is ambivilent towards it, and about half of the remainder think it should be decriminalized.
I know it won’t come out before the election, but it’d be nice if a candidate was willing to eventually consider it.