Being a white, 20-something male, there are often times such a large amount of advertisements, products and media being force-fed to me that my head spins. Buy this, watch that, this is what you should want (based on our focus groups), this is what is ‘in’ this is what is ‘out.’ Even political candidates are nearly decided for us. On the democratic side, just a year ago, there were half a dozen or so candidates that honestly had the capacity and capability to be president. What happened to them? They never had a chance. Kucinich, Richardson, and yes, even Edwards. Edwards may have held on the longest, but he never really had a shot. Our choices were narrowed down to Obama and Hillary. The other candidates were eliminated from the media and debates as their electability dropped off. And from my standpoint, this country cannot possibly be ignorant enough to elect another Republican into office at this point in time, so in all likelihood, either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will become president of the United States.
This brings me to the point of my review. Obama’s candidacy is designed to appeal to me. Not just me, of course, as that would be political suicide, but it is aimed strategically at me and my demographic. Here is what Obama (and his staff) sees:
1) The majority of voters are middle-class. The more voters in one group, the more you should focus your campaign.
2) Obama typically wins 8 out of 10 of the black votes.
3) Hillary typically wins 2/3 of the Latino vote.
So what do these things mean? Where should he focus his efforts? Where do most of the swing votes come from? White middle-class Americans. So what does Obama do to narrow his campaign to appeal to this group? He listens to what they are concerned about:
1) The war in Iraq
2) The crippling economy
3) Healthcare
Obviously there are more issues in his campaign, and many more issues in this country on top of that, but the polls tell Obama that this is what he should talk about. So he does. He says that he will end the war in Iraq, and repeatedly states that he opposed the war in the beginning. He says that he will take tax cuts away from the rich, and use the revenue to create tax cuts for the middle class, create ‘green’ jobs, etc. And he lays out a healthcare plan for America. It is not a ‘universal healthcare’ plan, although that is what he calls it.
So Obama talks about the issues that affect the middle class. That isn’t enough. Hillary talks about those same issues. She has very similar solutions to the same problems. So how does America choose between them? What it comes down to is likability. Which candidate can the average American connect with? Who is more believable, more inspirational? As the last eleven primaries and caucuses show, many believe Obama is that candidate. A lot of people simply don’t like Hillary. Is that enough to base a vote on? We’ll see. Obama has captured the young vote, collected over a million small donations from his website, and continues to run a pretty clean campaign. Hillary has loaned her campaign five million dollars, and has consistently run a negative campaign out of desperation. Now to be perfectly honest, I would not be crushed to see Hillary in office. She is a very intelligent clever woman, with some really good ideas for this country. But I prefer Obama’s background, the very thing she attacks. Yes, he has less experience on the Senate floor, but to me that means that as president he would be less likely to fall into the same old song and dance, and would perhaps be able to deliver the change that has become the focal point of his campaign.
