From Pop to Politics: Obama's Debut in Denver

After running around Denver like a chicken with my head cut off and getting four hours of sleep a night for the past three days I finally got to walk into Mile High Invesco Field where Sen. Barack Obama would accept the Presidential nomination. I’ve watched events like these on T.V. for years, but actually getting the chance to be a person there, present and part of history -- is a whole new level of surreal existence.



Before Obama made his grand appearance an all-star line up of artists such as Sheryl Crowe and Stevie Wonder entertained the crowd followed by New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson and former Vice President Al Gore addressed the crowd. For a few minutes during gaps in-between speakers audience members did The Wave from one side of the stadium to the other.



During his speech Al Gore addressed the youth’s impact in the election.

“This election is actually not close at all among young people – you are responding in unprecedented numbers to Barack Obama’s message of hope,” said Gore.

He continued on to say, “You recognize that he represents a clean break from the politics of partisanship and bitter division. You understand that the politics of the past are exhausted, and you’re tired of appeals based on fear. You know that America is capable of better than what you have seen in recent years. You are hungry for a new politics based on a bipartisan respect for the ageless principles embodied in the United States Constitution.”

Following a video segment on the young Senator and his life, his mother and family the man himself walked out on to the stage. The floor beneath my feet rumbled, the vocals of every person in the stadium exploded and the digital cameras flickered like Christmas lights.

For the past three days I’ve tried to be objective as humanly possible when it comes to the Obama campaign, but all that melted away during the speech. It was an extremely powerful moment that I’m very thankful to have been apart of – something that does not translate well through a television set.

Obama listed all the things he planned on doing once elected. And even though I wanted to believe him a piece of clouded skepticism slipped in. “He certainly can talk it. But can he walk it?”



But at that point I didn’t care. I wanted the moment to exist for as long as humanly possible.

Obama focused his words on the middle class, the ones who have been neglected by the current administration, prior to his speech several people who had gone through many issues that the population in the middle class are experiencing. One woman, who really touched me with her words, was Pam Cash-Roper from Pittsboro, North Carolina. Pam and her husband both went to major medical surgeries that racked up high medical bills and lost their medical coverage.

“I am a life long Republican,” said Pam, “who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Bush but I can’t afford four more years like this.”

Obama finished off his speech by urging Americans not to stick to the old game plan of the last eight years.

“America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to do. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to men. America, we can not turn back.”



When all was said and done, Obama’s family and Joe Biden joined him on stage, fireworks lit up the sky and the confetti floated down to Earth like multi-colored snowflakes, I could the sworn the music playing over the loud speaker was a hodgepodge of movie soundtracks, specifically The Matrix, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. It had a very buckle down; toughen up feeling, like we were getting ready to go into battle.

But battle cry or no battle cry, Obama’s speech did its job.

Denver: Disneyland for Democrats and the Unity Dilemma

When I looked out the window of my plane before it touched down on the Denver airport runway, a surreal thing happened. The clouds were parted just enough to let long streaks of light shoot down towards the patches of green and brown below. The scene reminded me a lot of those moments in TV and movies where the presence of God, or some mystical force shines down from the heavens. Though I'm not remotely religious, I took it as a good sign of things to come.

Sunday afternoon I got a taste of what the protests might be like during the week of the convention. A few NOBAMAS and one John McCain for President walked down the busy downtown street as a guy sitting across the street screamed BOO! Nice, Interactive theatre.



The downtown streets are so wide and jam-packed with stores and tables of trinkets it's like Disneyland (free shuttle included). The different meetings outside the Denver Pepsi Center are the Democratic National Convention's spinning teacups and the big night on Thursday is Splash Mountain. I'm just waiting for the life size Obama human puppet to walk out of Jamba Juice.

You can't walk anywhere without seeing cops during the DNC. Every time I see eight cops in padded gear hanging off the side of a car I keep expecting to see the Bat Mobile speeding behind.



On Monday night on my way to the Rock the Vote Concert featuring N.E.R.D, Fall Out Boy and YO!'s very own Donny Lumpkins, I got sidetracked by a huge barricade of police, blocking off almost two street blocks downtown. Nothing was going on, people were just standing around and I was too short to see what was going on behind the line of police, but a few people were arguing, venting their frustration. Part of me wanted to stay and see what happened next, but the rest of me wanted to hightail it out of there ASAP.

That whole moment, which probably lasted less than five minutes, gave me the creeps.
The contrast of what I saw within the walls of the convention center during the day and the dozens and dozens of cops lined up like chess pieces ready to pounce got me thinking about 'unity'. All I hear on the news is unity, unity, unity. The whole point of the convention is to get everyone to hold hands and sing Kumbaya as the balloons fall Thursday night.

It's obvious the protests are an attempt to get people to listen to the lesser-discussed issues and criticize the government; which is great, got to love the underdogs in life. When you don't like what you see and you're passionate about something you rally together, and bang pots and pans till the police show up and tell you to disperse.

But in terms of the protests within the Democratic Party, I almost feel this fragile alliance will at some point fall off the face of the Earth.

The Obama and Clinton rivalry may have died between the two candidates but the supporters haven't let go - which is obvious from how many Hillary signs I've seen since I arrived on Saturday. It then begs the question: is the Democrats' stand of unity really a broken teacup glued together with paste or it the real thing?

Is Denver going to have to create its own knock off of Disney's "It's a Small World After All"? But replace all the different ethnic backgrounds with all the major political players in the Democratic Party. I would go on it once, just to tell my grand kids I hopped on the 'Strained Unity Express'.

-- Eming Piansay

Youth Risk it all for 'Change' This Election Season

During Bill Clinton’s time in the White House, the only type of voting I took part in was the youth voting that happened through the television network Nickelodeon. I’m a little ashamed to say I actually thought I was voting for the next President of the free world. But now that I think about it, I don’t think anyone would let a 4th grader near a legitimate voting booth whose highlights of the week included watching Power Rangers and chocolate pudding. But I think it speaks a lot in the justification that young people do care who is running their country and some do actually want to have something to do with the process – even if the way they vote is purely symbolic.

Twelve years later I’m standing at the peak of an election process that has been propelled forward by the young generation of voters.

Sen. Barack Obama has become the unofficial face for the majority of young people in America. His campaign has been largely been staffed by young campaign workers, many of them too young to even vote for him.

Young voters are banking on Obama delivering what President George W. Bush could not. Obama campaign slogan may be ‘Change’, but change is a pretty broad topic; it’s also a risky promise. If elected, Obama will be inheriting a war, a slumping economy and a wide rage of issues that would make his election an upward climb.

Even though Obama has a large population of youth voters Obama still has a lot of prove to the young generation if he gets elected into office. It’s been so long since this generation could actual trust one of our leaders, it’s like after getting burned in your last relationship and you’re not sure if you can date again. Obama is potentially America’s future boyfriend.

Obama’s worst-case scenario is if his he is elected into office is that the majority of America will be so incredibly unhappy with his performance that come time for the next election in 2012 and it will all end in a train wreck of a divorce. “It’s not you – its me. Well, actually it is you.”

As a young voter who feels she is a small part of a larger chain of people who could potentially make an impact on the world, I’m rooting for Obama to re-energize a generation of young voters now and later that could not only change the landscape of politics but turn down the level of apathy of the politically devoid population.

Being a member of the semi-optimistic young voter population does come with its doubts. Will it happen? Can it happen? Is anything going to change – really? The chances of any President running a fully liberal office is a tough sell, especially after following President Bush.

In order to get the support of both sides of the political party tree, Obama needed to put his hands on both the right and left. Granted, a lot of liberals could say he’s not talking the talk he had in the very beginning. But in a lot of ways Obama is doing what George Bush should have done while in office. Bush always appeared very conservative in his views and it was rarity that I saw a news story where Bush’s actions leaned in favor of the more liberal population.

In order to take office Obama has to balance his views just enough to get both parties on the same page with him. Unfortunately, I can imagine this alienating some of his followers, especially the youth.

But for now, myself, and the rest of Obama’s followers probably figure that whatever Obama brings to the table at this point, is better than what we’ve had for the past eight years.


-- Eming Piansay

Young Campaign Workers Move Beyond the Youth Vote

PALO ALTO, Calif. – Molly Stone hurried into the front room of the Barack Obama for President headquarters on a late Wednesday afternoon, just days before the important Pennsylvania primary at the end of April.
Like many of those present, Stone was getting ready to call voters and gather information on who would be voting for Obama in the fast approaching primary election. But at 17, she was at least 10 years younger than most of the other volunteers.
“If they’re a strong Obama supporter, we call them the day before the election and make sure they’re going to make it out to vote,” said Stone, her petite figure wrapped in a white t-shirt with bold blue lettering that reads: Property of Students for Barack Obama.



Research shows that the youth vote has dramatically surged this election year, with some 3 million voters under the age of 30 casting their ballots on Super Tuesday – according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE). Seven out of eight states that held primaries saw increases in youth turnout, with some even tripling or quadrupling previous numbers.

But the mass movement of youth is doing more than just checking off a box behind the curtain at the voting booth. Dedicated campaign workers like Stone are putting in serious hours organizing for both Obama and Clinton and proving that the millennial stake in this election goes beyond just befriending the candidates on MySpace.

According to Scott Weiner, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, the vast number of young people interested in this year’s election comes from the impression that was left on them by the current administration.
“[Young voters] went through a certain kind of moral bankruptcy from the Bush administration,” said Weiner.
With events like the unpopular War in Iraq and the uncertain economy, young people took stock of the state of their country and made the conscious decision to take action.

“It just got worse over time,” said Weiner. “People see it [happening] and become more motivated.”
Stone came into political awareness during the Bush years, and Al Gore was the first presidential candidate that she idealized.

“I started getting interested in politics in the 2000 election,” Stone said. “I remember I was the only 5th grader who cared about it. I actually liked [Gore] and it wasn’t just because of what my parents were telling me.”
But her interest in politics didn’t stop there. By high school, government became Stone’s favorite subject, and when a friend of hers mentioned the Obama campaign was looking for volunteers in California – she immediately signed up.

“I remember his speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention like most people do,” said Stone. “I remember feeling like this guy was really cool.”
In Stone’s case, her hopes for a president are vastly different from those of people concerned about the War in Iraq or the economy.

“I’ve got a lot of problems with my health. Health care is a big issue for me and I’m really passionate about [Obama’s] health care plan,” said Stone. “I have a number of chronic diseases that put me in the hospital a couple times a year.”
With the current state of health care, Stone’s health coverage has been erratic and she's had several surgeries postponed.

“There is some random guy who doesn’t even know me who is saying, ‘No, you can’t have this surgery tomorrow,’ ” continued Stone. “We wouldn’t be able to afford [the surgeries] if [the insurance company] didn’t cover it.”

If there is not a universal health care program implemented by the time Stone graduates from college, her parents’ insurance company will no longer be able to cover her.

But not all young people are organizing for Obama.

“In California and Massachusetts, the youth vote went to Hillary,” said Amanda Coffee, a senior at Univ. of California, Berkeley and a Hillary Clinton campaign supporter. “I think that a lot of the young people I’ve spoken to have just seen [Clinton] throughout their adolescence and just know she has a lot more to offer.”
When Coffee speaks to other young people about why she’s voting for Clinton, she realizes how personal the decision can be for young, first time voters. “I tell [young people] why Hillary is my leader. I just know when she gets [into the White House] she knows what she’s doing. She’s going to jumpstart the Democratic presidency.”

Especially in the age of online organizing, young web-savvy organizers can put in their time on Facebook, instead of walking door to door. Molly Kawahata, 17, did most of her work as the California High School Director of the Students for Barack

Obama group online - from the comfort of her bedroom, which is plastered with pictures of the man she hopes will become president in November.

Since the California primary, Kawahata has begun working virtually for the national team in order to help other states create similar programs like the one she led in California. Recently, Kawahata was elected to represent her district as a delegate for the National Democratic Convention in August.

“The main reason I support [Obama] is because of the political diversity behind the campaign,” said Kawahata.

For Kawahata, being a senior applying to colleges and running a national campaign was a tough balancing act. “It’s definitely really difficult to balance this campaign with school and with everything else going on. The campaign did become my first priority, mainly because I believe in this so deeply,” Kawahata said with a smile. “I remember over winter break starting my college applications on December 21st, when they were all due December 31st or January 1st. That was a huge challenge.”
While all three organizers think that they have convinced a lot of people to cast a vote, they recognize that -- even with the surge of youth voting –- not everyone is as dedicated as them. Stone says she is the only one out of her circle of friends that has really been interested in politics.

“Most of my friends don’t care, they aren’t really into politics. Most of them aren’t going to be able to vote in November,” said Stone. “They’re just like, ‘Okay, you support Obama. Whatever. I’m not going to question it.’”

Goin' to the DNC with YoBlogger

Se7en Heaven in San Francisco

Shot and Edited by Eming Piansay