This week marks the debut of DC's hottest, hippest, most "with it" superPAC yet, Crossroads Generation.
The new group is funded by College 'Pubs, Young 'Pubs and, as its name suggests, Karl Rove's America Crossroads (yes, I know it's "American," not "America;" just as my party is the Democratic Party). It's mission: to lure Gen Whatever-the-Hell-Letter-this-one-is to the loving arms of the GOP.
In the "Looks Good on Paper" Department, "XG" communications advisor, Kristen Soltis, explains that young people "aren't looking for a party label," but for "someone to present a solution for how things are going to get better."
And who better to articulate the concerns of the country's youth than the Republican Party?
When I talk with younger people, they tell me they are, like Mr. Rove, et. al., deeply concerned about billionaires having to pay the same tax rates as the baristas at their local coffee shop and Gay Cootieism undermining traditional marriage.
Lord knows I can't count the number of young women who say they're afraid their state won't make them suffer transvaginal ultrasounds if they need reproductive health care.
No, the copy writers at "XG" aren't quite that tone deaf. They're putting forth the meme that young voters are so economically insecure that they'll be amenable to the GOP's message of lower taxes and unregulated corporatism.
And they've got videos! Of young people!
Credit where it's due, I'm impressed with the Rovians for understanding that they're going to need to chip away youth support for the president if they stand a chance at making electoral gains this year. And they are correct that many young voters care a lot more about issues than party ID.
But all the videos and initialed nicknames starting with "X" won't change the fact that the "issues" the GOP promotes--turning back the clock on civil rights and tolerance, keeping student loans unaffordable, afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable--don't quite resonate with people wondering if their quarter-million-dollar investment in college will yield them anything better than that barista job.
"XG" may be smart in attempting to exploit the well-founded economic fears of young American adults, but they have an unenviable task when it comes to convincing those Americans how the GOP's policies of bigotry, plutocracy and unending war are going to help.
Maybe a skateboarding dog?