The burden of Obama being catapulted into the national spotlight with his 2004 Democratic Convention speech is that people expect him to give similar rock star performances every time he makes a major public address. Expectations couldn't have been higher for his announcement speech.
My feeling is that he met or surpassed those expectations and the people I've spoken to who saw the speech in person all feel the same way. What impresses me most are the Republicans I know who went to the event, or saw it on TV, and were excited enough to say they would vote for Barack over a Republican.
One of his rare strengths as a speaker is his ability to reach the minds of young voters. I've had a hard time pinpointing what exactly it is about his speeches and recent book that are appealing to the Gen X and Y crowds but I think I came to understand it better during his speech.
One reason is that he acknowledges the cynicism of voters. Gen X can't become disillusioned because we never had any positive illusions about leaders or politics to begin with. We didn't grow up with an idyllic hero like John or Robert Kennedy. We showed up to vote for Bill Clinton, who did a good job as President, but he also has unavoidable flaws.
Gen Y has it even worse. They came of age politically under a President who personifies misleading manipulations of the public during election campaigns and even into war. Plus, they've never seen a Democratic Party that has stood for anything other than not being as bad as the Republicans.
Barack addressed the cynics by acknowledging some of the criticisms about him, including his lack of experience. Admitting and addressing ones' flaws is a sign of sincerity and honesty about who you are as a person. That's a refreshing contrast to the past 7 years of Bush denying that he has ever made a mistake and holding press events at his Barbie Playland pretend ranch in Texas.
Later on, he addressed the feeling of cynicism felt by many voters, not just the young, more directly by saying:
I understand the skepticism. After all, every four years, candidates from both parties make similar promises, and I expect this year will be no different. All of us running for president will travel around the country offering ten-point plans and making grand speeches; all of us will trumpet those qualities we believe make us uniquely qualified to lead the country. But too many times, after the election is over, and the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory, and the lobbyists and the special interests move in, and people turn away, disappointed as before, left to struggle on their own.
He's absolutely right that people have been disappointed too many times and acknowledging that disappointment is an essential part of reaching a generation raised with strong "BS" detectors.
Voters are also hungry for someone with conviction. I think that's true for voters of all ages but its especially true for young people who so rarely see anyone from the Democratic Party stand up strongly for a profound principle without backing down under pressure.
In some ways the Democratic Party never recovered from the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress. It gave credibility to cautious leaders in the party who constantly warn against doing or saying anything that might frighten fickle swing voters.
In 2000 we heard Al Gore talk endlessly about prescription drugs for seniors, but backed off universal health care, as if the young never get sick. He spoke about protecting social security for seniors but not about student financial aid or the environment. Its ironic that a candidate with an excellent record on issues young voters care about rarely said a word about those issues during his campaign. It was during that time period that I began to see Green Party chapters on college campuses with more active members than the College Democrats.
John Kerry continued the current Democratic strategy of not being a Republican. He wasn't a peace candidate; he offered a better managed war. Like Gore, he rarely talked about issues young voters care about most and the central Republican attack against him was that he's a flip-flopper without conviction.
What most polling doesn't reveal is that voters will support a candidate with conviction who they believe is standing up for honest ideals, even if they don't agree with him or her on every issue. That's a major reason Bush defeated John Kerry.
We have an entire generation of voters who came of age since 1994 that have never seen a Democratic Party with a grand vision other than being less offensive than the Republicans. Barack Obama, finally, provides young votes and others with what they have been looking for: a compelling message with a positive vision for the future.
Reminding people that he opposed the Iraq War from the start let everyone know that he has the courage to stand behind his convictions when its unpopular to do so. That's more valuable on election day than a thousand hours of TV commercials about inoffensive issues that at least 60% of voters agree with. Paul Wellstone understood this and Obama might be the candidate who finally takes Wellstone's style of conviction politics into the White House.
This post became too long so I'm cutting it off here. The continuation will be about Obama's post-baby-boomer perspective.
