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.

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