February 6th, 2008

Students weigh in on candidate buzzwords

The ability of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to attract youth supporters is undeniable. According to a CNN poll taken shortly after the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, approximately 58 percent of Democratic participants ages 17-29 caucused for Obama.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm around [Obama’s] campaign,” said John Aldrich, Pfizer-Pratt University professor of political science. “Obama tends to hit the liberal part of the student body fairly strongly, compared to Bobby Kennedy’s campaign in 1968.”

Obama’s campaign has run on the motto “Change We Can Believe In.” Although some students said change appeals to young voters dissatisfied with the traditional political process, others said his campaign is too vague and idealistic.

“A big problem I have with the Obama campaign is that it bases itself on hope and change,” said sophomore Vikram Srinivasan, an executive board member of College Republicans. “The whole ‘change’ thing is a lot of spin that people are taking a little too seriously.”

Obama is not the only candidate who has been given a one-word label. It seems certain “storylines” have appeared next to all the presidential candidates. Obama is the change candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is the experience candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, is the foreign policy candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the economy candidate. Although no candidate is as singular as these narratives appear, they nonetheless are apparent in voters’ minds.

According to a CNN exit poll following Super Tuesday primaries, 74 percent of Obama voters named “change” as the most important quality in a candidate whereas 45 percent of Clinton voters named experience as the most important quality.

“Political narratives… are limiting,” junior Ashley Banks said. “No one candidate is only about one thing and by reducing them to one word discredits them as candidates.”
-Eugene Wang

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