Obama's Millennial Stumble?

(Blue Skirt and I are posting independently now, so she may or may not take a crack at this. She may prefer to speak out on another issue on her mind.)

In his speech on racism, Barack Obama took us back to the Declaration of Independence, to the era of slavery, blamed racism on past generations and took a swipe at Reagan voters too. (As if there was no justification for their concern over the broken malignancy of the welfare system which destroyed the black family, or forced busing to achieve integration, which prompted a successful school choice movement from the black community in Milwaukee). He even took a swipe at his own white grandmother.

But he left younger voters pretty much alone--except of course for his offhand typical white voter remark. But did his big speech on race, which glossed over his 20 year friendship with a virulently anti-white, anti-American conspiracy theorist, pass the test of young skeptics?

Has Barack Obama stumbled with the Millennials? (Or us Boomers may call them the Echo Generation--I have three of them, am polling now:) Michael Barone:

Millennials are another matter. In a brilliantly well-timed new book, "Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics," Democratic Party veteran Morley Winograd and media researcher Michael Hais explain how this generation, with the highest percentages of blacks, Latinos and Asians in American history, doesn't care much for racial divisions and relies for news and advice on networks of friends and peers.

A newspaper story on Obama's pastor is not going to affect their view of him -- they don't read newspapers except when a friend emails a link to a newspaper Website. A YouTube video is another thing. The Wright videos -- angry when Obama is soothing, racially divisive when Obama is inclusive, anti-American when Obama proclaims a new generation's version of patriotism -- are something else.

(Some disappearing from YouTube, yet some remain.) It's not just Democrats under 30 Obama wants to appeal to. He wants Republican crossovers, and to bring in new voters. The Roe Effect may counterbalance Obama's youthful appeal, as young voters really think about his pro-abortion stance. And his big government solutions may not go over well with such an independent, plugged-in bunch used to having lots of choices and instant gratification.

How hip is waiting in line for government services--drivers license or the post office (well, that's not too often, snail mail use is way down among this set except for maybe packages). How inspirational is seeing that first paycheck after taxes, or dealing with the IRS for the first time--most of their experience with government has not been wonderful.

Take the latest campus craze--GoCrossCampus (GXC). NY Times, "Storming the Campuses":

If anything, GoCrossCampus is demonstrating that the game’s appeal ranges beyond universities. One of the most popular offshoot games on the site now is called GoCrossPoliticalBash08. It pits 2,000 supporters of presidential candidates against one another over a map of the United States.

Could such a game augur the outcome of the next presidential election? Probably not. The armies of John McCain and Barack Obama have already been routed, and Hillary Clinton’s forces are trapped in New England.

Jockeying for control of the rest of the country are the armies of Representative Ron Paul of Texas and the comedian Stephen Colbert.

A libertarian Republican and an irreverent comedian. How hip is taking yourself too seriously and speaking words that don't even make sense in artsy-fartsy French.

As the war recedes from arousing such a knee-jerk anti-war reaction, and as more of the 9/11 generation comes home from Iraq, and attests to the significant progress and necessity of the war, we may see a rethink on the war on terror as well from the Millennials.

Remember, John McCain is a quirky individualist who chose at a young age to serve a cause greater than himself. McCain's first mentor was a rugged libertarian, fellow Arizonan Barry Goldwater. His straight talk appeal could reach across the generations. After all, McCain has been steadfast his entire campaign with this call to all of us--"We're Americans."