Mermaid-Man and Barnacle-Girl Face Dissent from Youthful Voters

John McCain did a great job portraying himself as a war hero and earning respect from thankful americans at the National Republican Convention. At least from older americans, that is. The question that arises from McCain's speech is, will a generation of young americans have the same amount of respect for a war veteran as an older generation? I say no, for several reasons. 

When running for the presidential office, having a large difference in age from much of your audience is a big deal, especially when your opponent is one of the youngest candidates to run for office. Naturally, regardless of what age a candidate is they will be closer in age to some people than others. But by being the younger candidate, Obama is able to say he can relate to young voters, and say to older voters that since he is young, he has new ideas to bring about positive change. McCain may naturally attract older voters, but he does not necessarily gain as much respect from younger voters. This is again because youth tend to respect who they can relate to, not who has more experience. Sure, many people are taught to respect their elders as children, but during an election, young adults are going to vote for who they identify with the most, or which candidate supposedly understands their needs the best. 

As proof of this theory, take this MSNBC.com thread. In response to the article posted about McCain's speech, many people expressed their opinion about age comparison between the two candidates. Richard from Chicago said, "The first debate will determine just how bad McCain will lose. McCain is McBush and is too slow, too out of touch to hang with Obama." Mark from Massachusetts wrote, "Old Man's yelling at clouds again." Charles from California commented, "His speech vs Obama's is barbershop quartets vs rock n roll." Lastly, an anonymous poster said, "Well I guess Grampy McSame had to speak first so he could trot off to bed. After all, a man his age needs his rest...He'll need Houdini (that's a reference to his uh...advanced age) to make that voting record disappear..." 

These people could have practically written my essay for me. Clearly there is a significant amount of dissent when it comes to his old age. All these posts go to show just how much McCain's age works against him, and why he needs to work that much harder to prove that he has something to offer to a young audience.

In General, McCain could have easily made an effort to appeal to a younger audience. Doing so could open the door to an enormous amount of votes. He could have addressed at least a few issues that concern young americans, so they feel as though their lives and careers matter to McCain. For example, he spent plenty of time talking about how he would never back down from a war if it meant we would face losing it, but he could have cut that down in order to talk more about issues that are more relevant to a younger audience. Saying things like "I've fought for the right strategy and more troops in Iraq when it wasn't the popular thing to do,"  isn't exactly what young people want to hear, even if they are in favor of the war. The truth is, when a war becomes serious, a major threat to every young voter is the reality of being drafted. People may vote for fighting a war, but when the choice to decide whether or not they personally want to risk their lives is taken away and they are forced to go, their mindsets change. So rather than push the idea of drawing more and more troops into Iraq, he could have still kept the idea of finishing, or wining the war, but perhaps lightened up on the phrases that made is sound as though every last teenager and young new father will eventually be carried over seas. 

There certainly were times in his speech that McCain did a good job of addressing issues that all americans are confronted by, such as a slouching economy, large government spending, and high taxes. He did mention things that young americans deal with such as high mortgage bills and gas prices. But the problem still remains that even when McCain does talk about issues that concern the younger generations, he A, never speaks to them directly, and B, is still old. Perhaps being unable to escape old age will always be a negative factor in gaining votes for McCain, but he needs to be aware of the problem so he can combat it in other ways. 

When watching McCain give his speech, many may be reminded of Mermaid-Man and Barnacle Boy. 

Many young voters may appreciate McCain for the duty he served years ago, but when seeing him in comparison to the young and vibrant Obama, they are quick to discredit McCain as if he is past his prime. If McCain wants to prove that he will bring change, he needs to start addressing more than Vietnam vets and begin speaking to the younger generations directly in his speeches.