From Mark Bauerlein, here:
You see, a 25-year-old has no real memory of any president except Barack Obama. George W. Bush is just a name. They cast their first votes for Obama, and their second (millennials tend to skip the midterms). Obama was not a politician to them: He was the realization of everything millennials believed about the world and about themselves. They are the first generation to have brought tolerance and inclusivity down to Earth (they’ll tell you so). They will not stand for racism. Patriotism is a minor concern, because they think it wrong to favor the poor farmer upstate over the poor farmer in Africa. Everyone deserves to be happy.
Barack Obama in the White House was vindication of their faith. In 2008, the youth vote (18-to-29-year-olds) favored him over McCain 66 percent to 31 percent! This was hero worship. The first black president, a guy who listens to rap and shoots hoops, likes Mad Men and knows how to deliver a punchline, who stops discrimination and frustrates haters, who frees the harassed and victimized … this was what American leadership should always be.
Donald Trump can impress them only as a throwback, a mean, atavistic clod. They don’t care for Hillary, especially. It’s the loss of Obama that distresses them. Set the orange-haired tweeter alongside the cool, composed law professor and a mighty void hits home. The millennials had a charmed political youth for eight years. Now, as they see it, they enter their thirties with a guy who likes walls, guns and threats.
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