Schlepping for Barack Obama

Barack Obama has found his comfort zone within younger voting blocs throughout the 2008 election. Contrarily, his support amongst older, elderly voters has been much less apparent. Specifically during the 2008 Democratic primaries, Jewish elderly voters of Florida were not pleased when Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race making Barack Obama the nominee. Normally, if a narrowly characterized bloc was upset with the candidate, it would not make that significant of a difference. In this case, the particular group of voters was located in Florida, a hotly contested electoral state where a small number of voters can make a monumental difference.

These older voters were suspect of Obama’s candidacy for reasons concerning race and religion. More specifically, the Jewish elderly voters were reluctant to vote for Obama not only because he was an African American, but also because of rumors that he was Muslim, The older voters, who typically are not as open to racial diversity as the youth, were less willing to take the progressive stride of supporting a black candidate. As if this were not enough, these same voters were suspicious that Obama was of Muslim descent, which was antithetical to their strong Israel ties.

Contrary to these perceptions, Obama actually is of the Christian faith and has been outspoken in his support of Israel. In order to help these elderly Jewish voters past these misconceptions, an organization was started called “The Great Schlep.” Their mission is to send the grandchildren of these voters to Florida to convince them to support Obama by reporting the truth. In a typical fashion, the organization enlisted a celebrity, Sarah Silverman, to appeal to the youth to go along with their purpose.

Throughout the video, Silverman uses humor to help the youth realize that their grandparents are very similar to Barack Obama. She says that even though it may not seem this way, “we’re all the same inside.” By using this message of unity, she plays on the youth’s comparative tolerance for people of all races. She goes on to urge young voters to “schlep” down to Florida in order to convince their grandparents, those who think Obama is devastatingly different, that he is just like them. Although some of her comparisons are rather absurd, it puts into perspective the entire situation at hand as one of unnecessary concern with false matters. While comparing “elderly Jewish grandmas to” Obama, or the “young black man,” she claims that they both love “tracksuits” and that their “car of choice is a Cadillac.” Even though these are not substantive similarities, the purpose of this humor is to excite the youth to the idea of spreading their message of racial and religious tolerance to their grandparents.

Although Silverman portrays this serious issue in a rather lighthearted tone, the premise of using the youth to address controversial issues with their family has been a significant tactic this campaign season. In an earlier blog post, it is mentioned that Obama encourages the youth to have “the Talk” with their parents about his candidacy. The main problem for Obama is the fact that many of these Jewish elderly voters are part of a less tolerant generation. This video addresses this problem by encouraging the youth, the grandkids, to talk with their grandparents. This could be particularly effective due to the family connection that these two types of voters have in common. Although they may be part of separate generations, their familial bond could be the familiar trust necessary to help debunk his perceived mysteriousness for some of these older voters. After all, the grandchildren’s support of Obama could enlighten their grandparents to see through the lies.

In addition, “The Great Schlep” provides talking points for the youth to help with this endeavor. In their talking points document, they urge the young voters to address the issue of race by saying “he’s black, let’s talk about it.” The organization firmly believes that the most effective way to debunk any myths about Obama’s candidacy is to address them head on. Specifically, they urge young voters to distance Obama from the “confrontational tactics” of “black leadership” in the 60s and 70s. This plays down the racialized conception that some of these older voters may have had for Obama, instead creating a new perception of post-racial, universalized politics.

Through the use of Facebook, a popular social networking site, “The Great Schlep” has been organizing youth from across the country to make the trip to Florida. Already, the group has 23,756 members and is constantly growing. This alone shows the great reception that initiatives like this one have had and will continue to have with the youth. In this election particularly, this operation displays the youth’s presence as more than just a voting bloc, but also as a trusted entrance into the homes of older voters across the country.

For Further Reading:

http://www.thegreatschlep.com/site/index.html

http://s3.amazonaws.com/jcer/483/TGS-TalkingPoints.pdf

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/13/great.schlep/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Great-Schlep/33348956673?sid=48689011dcd467e7d2a81c3f3c471eaa&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Finit%3Dq%26q%3Dthe%2Bgreat%2Bschlep%26ref%3Dts%26sid%3D48689011dcd467e7d2a81c3f3c471eaa&ref=s