It might be the age of Facebook, but rarely has there been more of a
prime-time TV moment. Barack Obama ambled down from the podium after
his speech and embraced his wife. Michelle was wearing a chunky pearl
necklace and a figure-hugging purple dress. Tens of thousands of
people waving 'change' signs screamed.
Bruce Springsteen's euphoric 2002 song 'The Rising' blared as Barack
and Michelle mingled with their fans in the Minneapolis stadium.
'Michelle looks like Jackie O', my 20-something friend whispered
to me. We were sitting in her New York apartment, a time zone away,
amazed and enchanted by Obama on CNN. For the majority of young
loft-living leftists in New York, Obama is our
generation's JFK.
His victory was the culmination of a year of Obama-mania
among kids in America. You want to know why he's the first-ever black
candidate nominated to contest the US presidency? Start by talking to
Generation Y.
And not just in my hip neighborhood in Brooklyn. Right across America,
young people have a crush on Obama. There are over 76 million members
of Generation Y in the US. That makes Gen Y nearly as numerous as the
85 million Baby Boomers.
And people my age have been overwhelmingly for Obama.
Twenty-somethings have voted for Obama in all but four states. In Virginia, a Republican-leaning
state that Democrats want to win this time, Obama beat Hillary by 52
per cent. Apart from African Americans, Milennials have been Obama's
biggest supporters.
And this mobilisation seems likely to continue. Right now, classifieds
sites and noticeboards at New York unis are full of summer campaign
jobs. Thousands of students are set to head off to Ohio and Florida
and go door-to-door for Barack.
And if the primaries are any guide, more young people will vote in
November than have for decades.
All this civic involvement seems to belie the traditional stereotypes
of Generation Y. In the past, Gen Y has been described as a group who
are fixated on Myspace, Twitter and our blogs.
So how has the Obama campaign succeeded in reaching out to a group
who've been seen as more interested in who's leading in friendship
counts on Friendster than who's going to lead the
World Superpower?
Superficially, it seems his campaign won out with the traditional
pop-culture crowd pleasers: sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.
Sex and rock 'n' roll? Last year's 'Obama Girl' song 'I Got a Crush on
Obama' was named