It’s no secret that enthusiasm among young voters, which largely contributed to President Barack Obama’s 2008 win, is substantially down this year. The Obama campaign has done everything it could – short of keeping its candidates promises – to reinvigorate young Americans’ support for the ultra-hip President, from getting Obama to slow-jam the news on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to enlisting the help of Beyonce, Jay Z and basketball superstars like Michael Jordan. But none of it has seemed to bring back the teen spirt of 2008.
However, Hollywood A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire are giving it one last shot with a “nonpartisan” campaign called “Vote4Stuff” that encourages young Americans to vote in the upcoming national election. And by vote for “stuff” they clearly mean vote for Obama. DiCaprio and Maguire have both contributed to Obama’s reelection efforts.
As part of their big launch, DiCaprio and Maguire put together a video featuring themselves and other well-known celebrities, including vulgar comedienne Sarah Silverman, daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Jonah Hill and Selena Gomez.
The celebrities spend the greater part of the video cracking jokes and advocating for “ridiculous” ideas that will never been achieved as a way to lure young people into watching the video all the way through the end, at which point they tell viewers what “stuff” they should be voting for.
On the list of “stuff” young voters should be concerned about is: jobs, marriage equality, climate change, foreign policy, women’s’ reproductive rights, immigration, worker’s rights, taxes, higher pay for teachers and “better education” (whatever that means).
Although half of the actors in the video have not openly supported Obama, outside of ‘jobs’ and ‘foreign policy,’ the video’s list of “stuff” young people should care about this election cycle reads like a liberal wish list.
Vote4Stuff has shared a similar star-studded video produced by DiCaprio’s company in 2008 on it’s facebook wall before it’s launch on Sept. 16. The video encourages young people to not vote unless they care about issues like healthcare, gun control, women’s rights, global warming, welfare, gay rights, abortion rights, etc and also stars Jonah Hill (who promotes drug use in the video) and Sarah Silverman (who compares voting to herpes).
Fortunately for the Romney campaign, it’s going to take a lot more than a viral video to jump-start youth enthusiasm among young liberals in the last month of the campaign. If Obama wants to inspire young people to vote for him again, he needs to get serious about reducing the costs of college and attempting to solve the youth unemployment crisis instead of clowning around with celebrities.
