Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Obama's personality cult?

Cora Currier at The Nation has an interesting take on the media hype about the "personality cult" surrounding Senator Obama.
The actions of a few are being characterized as characteristic of the larger body; this makes quite a few people uneasy about supporting Senator Obama. Why does no-one raise a stink about the flaming feminists who rabidly support Senator Clinton just because she's a woman? Could it be because these feminists have always been politically active, while the young people who ardently support Senator Obama have not? Opposition spin machines and the media try to trivialize this new-found interest in politics among young people as the next fad... "these young voters won't turn-out on election day."
CNN exit polls show an increase in the turn-out by the 18-29 age group comparing the 2004 and 2008 Democratic primaries (from 2004 to 2008):
Missouri: from 9% to 14%
Wisconsin: from 11% to 16%
California: from 11% to 16%
New Hampshire: from 14% to 18%
So - contrary to spin by other-than-Obama campaigns and the media - these young voters are showing an increased interest, and more importantly, are turning out in force. Remember that absolute voter turn-out this primary season is breaking previous records, so the increase in terms of absolute number of young voters turning out is more significant than the higher percentages indicate.

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