Youth Politics

So Barack Obama went to Germany yesterday in an attempt to prove that he will be received well by the international community as well as to show that he has the ability to become a leader with regards to foreign policy. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good idea on his part. His speech was fairly successful, it drew a large crowd, and a lot of cheering. Of course there are always going to be the commentators on either side of the party lines, giving their opinions and whatnot and putting a twist as to how successful his speech truly was, but for the most part, I think it was a good move on his part and is really no big deal.

Enter McCain.

Now it is not completely his fault; the media seems to put a much greater importance in irrelevant comments than the subject matter at hand. For reference, here’s CNN’s video of the interview with McCain. Most of the interview (that we see, anyway) has absolutely nothing to do with Obama’s visit to Germany, however the article stresses it for at least a couple of paragraphs.

Still, making the argument that he would rather visit Germany as president and not a candidate for president means nothing. To try to attack Obama from this angle is clearly pointless. Just because Obama visits another country for a day or two does not mean he’s not trying to win the hearts of American voters; again, he’s trying to prove to us Americans that he can do the job. I see no problem with that, and I don’t think McCain can really attack him on this angle. McCain has plenty of other angles from which he can prove he’s the better candidate, and I firmly believe there was no reason for him to try and make an argument for himself.

Was McCain being in front of a German restaurant an accident? I want to say no. That’s way too much of a coincidence. He may have, maybe, been trying to make a point, but I think it just flopped and he dropped it. Either that or he changed his mind.

Welcome to my blog. My name is Alberto Pareja-Lecaros, and, if you wish, you can look at my profile in the About link above. I’ve started this blog as a personal conversation to myself about American politics, but with the intent of having others listen (read) in on my thoughts.

Quite frankly, young adults (ages 18-24) are simply not as politically informed as they should be. I’m writing here as a young adult who is very in tune with politics, and my hope is that I can help my generation to become not only more informed towards the political scene, but also to become more active in it. Everyone my age seems to have opinions about the big issues of today such as the economy and the current war in Iraq. However, how useful is that opinion when these people do not even care to vote? In some countries people would kill to be able to have a say, and here in America young people take that for granted. I’m in no way implying that all young people in America are mindless towards politics, but it is still quite a large number.

This blog is not only intended for young adults. Anyone interested in the subject matter is free to read my posts and of course, leave comments. I’ll take any kinds of questions and/or criticisms anyone has.