NAME — Izaak Hayes
AGE — 18
Jack Boeglin has been following Barack Obama since his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. After doing some research, he decided to start a chapter of Students For Barack Obama at his high school.
Like many other young people, Jack appreciates that Obama is a relative newcomer to Washington politics. “Presidential candidates in the past have almost universally been older white men. They were people who’d been involved in Washington politics for a long time. … Too many young people had a hard time identifying with them,” he said.
A week before the Ohio primary, Jack, his brother and two friends traveled to Cincinnati to campaign for Obama. He felt pretty good about their efforts. “Door to door, I got some people who were supportive, who actually said they would go out and vote. I got several undecideds to sway to his side, and I actually got a couple of registered Republicans, because Ohio is a open primary, to say that they did like Barack more and that they would go out and vote for him as opposed to Senator Clinton in the primary.”
What inspired you to become involved?
In 2004, I saw his speech at the Democratic National Convention; he was the keynote speaker, and I got interested. When he released his book, The Audacity of Hope, I read that, became more interested, started looking into his positions, and I have supported him ever since he became a candidate for the presidency. I’ve donated money along with some of the rest of my family, and I’m now trying to work for him as much as I can.
What was the funniest thing that someone said to you while you were campaigning?
I went to a house that had several Obama signs, and when I went to the door, a man who was at least 90 years old came outside. I asked him whether he was a supporter of Barack, and he didn’t even know who I was talking about. So I wasn’t really sure how to handle that situation.
If you could talk with Barack Obama, what would you say?
I would talk to him about who he plans on appointing to his Cabinet and to his personal advisers. Experience is a real issue, and it’d be nice to know who he plans on surrounding himself with to help him out with those challenges. I’d also like to talk to him about free trade. That’s been a big issue in this campaign, and I know it’s gotten a lot of people pretty worked up.Why do you think young people aren’t typically involved in politics and don’t vote?
There’s a little bit of apathy bred into the system, but mainly people don’t feel they know what’s going on, don’t care, or just never get around to registering before the deadline.
Copyright 2008 Y-Press
