The Obama Generation, Revisited :: The 2008 election galvanized young voters and organizers. One year later, where are they?

photo: Obama @ the University of Maryland Rally for Health Care Reform on September 17, 2009.

Wow. This article by Elizabeth Mendez Berry, published in The Nation on November 3rd, is one of the best, most inspiring articles that I've read in a while.

... On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama won 66 percent of voters under 30, increasing the Democratic share of the youth vote by 12 percent over 2004. Young people were among Obama's earliest and most important supporters; people under 30, for example, represented Obama's margin of victory in Iowa, the crucial first caucus. Rallies like this one, with thousands of young people putting their hands in the air for healthcare reform, are the most obvious indication of continuing youth enthusiasm for the president. Plenty in the crowd had volunteered for his campaign, including ...

Eric Stehmer, 28. Mouhamad Diabate, 21. Chrisi West, 30. Marcus Ryan, 25. Elizabeth Kistin, 28. Lana Wilson, 26. Anthony Williams, 22. Zerlina Maxwell, 28. Demond Drummer, 26.

These are just a few of the members of the Obama Generation whose lives were changed by the campaign, and whose stories are told in the article.


If you do not have time to read the article (which would be a shame) then check out this video interview with the journalist who wrote the article, Elizabeth Mendez Berry.