Hillarysworld

Even the kids aren't drinking the Kool-Aid anymore.

http://usliberals.about.com/b/2011/01/03/college-students-disappointed-by-obama-crucial-to-2012-election.htm

President Obama can't, and won't, be reelected in 2012 without fervent, fever-pitched support of college students and others under age 25.
I fear that because of their laser focus on D.C. political-process wrangling, the Obama administration will continue to overlook issues and policies that most affect young adults. Without high-energy motivation, U.S. college students historically don't show up to vote. And that would be devastating to Obama's 2012 prospects, just as it was for Democrats in the November 2010 elections.

At the beginning at 2011, the issues students and young voters most care about have been largely ignored, or poorly handled, thus far by the Obama administration, including:

Unemployment. College students are commonly graduating, often laden with debt, only to find no jobs. "The job market for recent college graduates is the bleakest it's been since 1983, forcing a generation that has basked in possibilities to contend with dwindling prospects," reported the Washington D.C. Examiner two weeks ago. Businessweek reported at length a few months ago that College Grads Flood U.S. Labor Market With Diminished Prospects.

The DREAM Act. College campuses across the nation were roiled by the failure of The DREAM Act to be passed by the Senate on December 18, 2010. And student populations, not just Latino students, suspect that President Obama's hands-on support for the bill was tepid, weak-kneed.
Per a Princeton University study released two months ago, students from immigrant families comprise a larger than ever percentage of elite college students. "... we find that nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of students were either first-generation immigrants (born outside the United States to at least one foreign-born parent) or second-generation immigrants (born inside the United States to at least one foreign-born parent). By race, about two-thirds of Hispanic students and roughly nine-tenths of Asian students were first- or second-generation immigrants."

The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. War-making is never popular on college campuses, but continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and on-going U.S. fighting in Afghanistan are close to incomprehensible to young voters nationwide.
Wrote a Firedoglake blogger about her teenage son lamenting Obama's broken promises, "By promises, he meant improving the economy and increasing jobs, as well as winding down the war in Iraq and getting out of Afghanistan. From his perspective, the war in Iraq has been forever; he can't remember a time when we didn't have troops there."

President Obama's dismal standing with college students was summed well by the Florida International University student newspaper:

"An Associated Press poll conducted last month which surveyed 2,027 randomly selected undergraduate students ages 18-24 showed that currently 44% of students support President Obama and 27% are unhappy with his overall performance.
For Barack Obama to be reelected in 2012, not only must the President's approval rating among college students increase very substantially, but students must once again be excited by the promise of his candidacy... excited enough to flock to the polls in support of his agenda.

Without a sea change attitude among students, harsh reality is that Barack Obama will be a one-term president. I dearly hope the Obama administration is taking hard notice, and making the necessary adjustments to please its student-led political base.

So far, I detect only presidential focus on inside-the-beltway politics, which is a guaranteed one-way ticket back home to Chicago for Barack Obama.