George Washington University students were dismayed Tuesday that they never got to see the man they helped elect president in 2008.
President Obama, whose election was fueled by young voters, held a town hall meeting at the school just across town from the White House, but only about 20 of the 120 people allowed to participate were from the university and only a handful of those were students. Most of those who got to see the president were brought in by Obama’s political organization, Organizing for America.
“The fact that they’re limited is a little bit sad, because how are the rest of us supposed to show our support or dissent?” said Allie Cline, 19, a student from Fort Thomas, Ky., who didn’t get in. “If it’s a GW event, we need to be there. It’s a little upsetting only 20 were picked to go.”
Elizabeth Gezana, an 18-year-old from Austin, Texas, who studies international affairs, shared Cline’s chagrin at being excluded.
“I don’t think it’s an accurate representation of the student body,” Gezana said of the chosen few, “and it’s such a small group, it doesn’t really represent GW.”
Mickey DiBattista, 18, a political science and history major from Long Island, N.Y., was among those who did get to attend and he said his friends were jealous.
“Most of them are angry that they don’t get to go and that everything’s being shut down,” DiBattista said, “but they’re still happy to see that he’s coming to GW.”
Jessica Hoffner, 18, of Newburgh, N.Y., who is majoring in biology and political science, also got in.
“Obama’s the whole reason I came to this school and the whole reason I’m working so hard to be a double major, because his whole movement was really inspirational to me,” Hoffner said. “Even though I wasn’t old enough to vote, I thought it was great, just the impact he had on so many people.”
Students did gather along the president’s motorcade route down I Street, shouting, waving and snapping pictures of his limousine.
