integrated youth organizing

There is a great piece in New America Media Mike was interviewed for that talks about the greatest #FAIL of the HCR battle was in the complete lack of outreach from both the White House and the DNC.

"Angry mobs at the now-infamous town hall meetings on health care reform got voluminous coverage on evening news shows and even YouTube offerings, making stars out of the protestors. And overwhelmingly, the faces of the radical agitators singled out by news cameras were very much the same, no matter the geography. They were white, middle-aged or older Americans, railing against an imagined government take-over of health care and a slew of other policies championed by the Obama administration.

Where were the young activists who mobilized in record numbers to campaign for change and helped sweep Obama and a Democratic majority into power?"

We posted recent polling info about HCR and about the President, young people (and their parents) are still the largest supporters of both. And the largest generation in our nation's history still remains the most overwhelming supporters of the public option.

"If young people haven’t been visible enough, the fault also lies in part with the Obama administration and the Democratic Party, which failed to mobilize them early to keep the election momentum rolling, say several organizers.

“I don’t see Organizing for America making an explicit appeal to young people,” he said. “They are not sending a targeted appeal to young people to drive home that this is really important in the short and long term. Without that, it’s hard to get them to these events.” Unlike state efforts, Organize for America has the resources and reach to counter the conservative push, Connery notes, but it did not do that.

Indeed... no one has. Because once again, despite electing this President ... young people were thrown under the bus. We're not involved in policy discussions, we're ignored, were mocked for the cheap laugh, and when it comes to investment we're passed over.

Also, just as an aside to the article, when they talked about the unbelievable work Forward Montana was doing... they knocked on 10,000 doors... not 1,000.

Joshua Gorman is a student and youth activist living in Washington DC, a member of Students for Barack Obama, part of the leadership team for Barack the Youth Vote, and a passionate supporter of the Obama youthroots movement as a whole.

Yes, Barack Obama went through his own troubling youth identity-crisis. He has openly admitted he inhaled; he’s been wasted and hung-over more than once in his youth; and he often found himself feeling lost and uncertain about his identity and his ultimate place within the world. But that’s not the youth identity-crisis we’re talking about here. (For the engaging story about this first one, check out Obama’s autobiography Dreams from My Father .)

Barack Obama has another youth identity-crisis taking place today: with his unprecedented youthroots movement. The Obama youth movement is by far largest and most energetic of all the 2008 presidential campaigns. Currently the national student network Students for Barack Obama (SFBO) is the official student wing of the Obama campaign, but as Barack Obama continues to rally young Americans from all sectors of the broad youth demographic with his fresh spirit and generational call-to-action, the question is arising as to how best to integrate this rapidly growing movement into the most effective and efficient structure that can accommodate the broadest number of young Americans—students and non-students, youth activists and young professionals, and the countless other youth and young adults who are ready to change our nation and transform the world.