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How to measure hope

By Stacey Laskin

For many pro-Obama college students, the 2008 election was inspiring. Yet now, a year later, some are wondering if the campaign for hope was worth the hype.

The same telephone poles that were once covered in the now-iconic blue and red "Vote for Change" Obama posters, are now plastered with a more sinister message. The Anti-Obama joker poster, for instance, has appeared across the nation, including along High Street.

The Ohio State University College Democrats have taken the attack as a call to arms.

"I'm glad Republicans are acting up so we don't get complacent," said sophomore Jacob Foskuhl, the political director for the College Democrats. "They've said a lot of hateful stuff against Obama, and that has fueled hate for the system in general."

Foskuhl characterized the current Republican movement as "almost like the hippie movement against the government, but on the right side."

Yet Meagan Cyrus, the chairman of the OSU College Republicans, said the group did not endorse the Anti-Obama Joker posters on campus. Instead, she addressed how former Obama advocates had shifted their support since last spring. She met some of them at the College Republicans recruiting events.

One former supporter, who helped with voter protection on Election Day and once considered herself "very optimistic" and "impressed with voter turnout among younger people" is now "disappointed that health care reform has not happened" and "annoyed with partisan politics."

Andrew Zucker, an Ohio University junior, took a year off from school to join Obama's full-time staff in Chicago. He helped organize support at OSU during the Ohio Students for Obama campaign, yet said his feelings now were "mixed."

"Barack Obama has done a lot in the past year. Disappointment isn't the word. People expected things they haven't gotten yet. I think [the administration] has done a poor job explaining to the American people what they're doing. This seems like a political problem," Zucker said.

Zucker, who is studying political communication strategies, used health care as an example. He said that when individual ideas from the health care bill are discussed, people think the ideas are great.

"But people are adamantly opposed [to the bill itself] because they don't know [those ideas are] in it," he added.

For this reason, Zucker said he understands why some original supporters might now feel disillusioned.

"It takes real devotion to understand what is in the bill and what was conceded on and how bipartisan it is," he said.

The College Dems gathered at Hangover Easy on Wednesday night to watch the State of the Union Address. The members ordered greasy food and chatted at tables, and an officer announced the "Donkey of the Week" award, given to another of the group's officers.

Overall, the members expressed continued devotion and optimism about Obama's message.

"You can support someone without agreeing with everything they do," Foskuhl said.

And even "support" might not be a true measure of hope among college students, said Randolph Roth, an Ohio State University history professor.

"[Hope] doesn't follow political approval ratings," Roth continued. "It's something deeper. Nothing that volatile."

Originally Published: February 3, 2010

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