I have been following this race for awhile, and unlike most people I believe that age will be the dividing factor in this year’s election. Not only will McCain try to use the age of Obama and link it to inexperience but age will also be the dividing factor of the electorate.
Growing up, I would listen to my parents and grandparents vent about democrats and how they were ruining America. However, what my parents did not know was that I disagreed with them on almost every issue in politics. I had always followed politics but it wasn’t until I saw Obama’s speech at the democratic convention that I realized enough was enough. I couldn’t sit back and let my family bulldoze over me. I had to speak up for what I believed in. I had to get involved in the political process.
Since the primary process has started, I have worked my butt off for Obama’s campaign. I have registered people to vote, phonebanked, donated and raised money for his campaign, and even gave a 15 min speech with a powerpoint in my speech class about why I believe Barack will be the best president.
All that hard work and what does my family call me?? Obsessed. Naïve. A Kool-Aid Drinker. And on and on and on.
All of that just because I am young. Just because they have been on this earth longer, they supposedly are smarter then me. But in my life, I have seen the Twin Towers fall down, 4,000+ killed in Iraq, and a President who has done more damage in eight years to the Constitution than anyone could have ever imagined. I have seen a city leveled and the President sit back and do nothing for days. These are the things I remember from my childhood most vividly, not the parties, dances, or time spent with friends. I cannot reclaim those eight lost years of childhood from my life. And yet my elders claim that I am too young to know who should be president. That I don’t have enough "experience" to make wise judgments. I say to them that I have too much experience. Too much of these last eight years. I yearn for something better not only for myself, and my country, but for future generations to come.
I have to ask when has age become the measure of intelligence? I thought that your intelligence is measured by your actions, your decisions, your beliefs, how you treat other people, and how you live your life. And yet I am too young to know what is right. You hear the calls from elders, the MSM, and the Republican party. They brush aside the youth of today and laugh at Barack Obama at the same time. They believe that the youth vote for Obama because it is popular or call us a cult because we avidly support him. They do not realize that today’s youth are involved in the political process because they are tired of not only the Bush administration, but also the games both sides play. We are not stupid and we will not sit back and let the same people control the system. We want Change in America.
And then there is John McCain. He believes that he can use the age card to scare people in to voting for him. He calls Obama naive for his foreign policy stances but how does talking to our enemies equate naivety? We are not stupid. We will not fall for McCain's tricks.
Age isn’t a measure of IQ and it shouldn’t be a measure of who is qualified to be president. Just because Barack Obama isn’t as old as John McCain doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have the judgment to lead this country efficiently.
Your youth also doesn’t mean that you aren’t smart enough to make a sound decision for who should be president.
And until Americans realize both of those statements the 2008 election will be the Young v. Old and Obama v. McCain, and age will be the deciding factor.
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."- Abraham Lincoln