Dwindling Hope, Irrelevant Election: Young People Get Their Cynicism Back

NEW YORK Last night's presidential debate, the second of three with less than a month to go before the election, was notable only for its shocking and sad irrelevance. After witnessing New York City's wild spiraling decline in the past couple of weeks and registering the fear on the faces of my generation, I could not bring myself to listen to the middling and petty differences of these two men, who look more like mere politicians than ever before. To mix a metaphor, they seemed like silly, stubborn men fighting at the helm of the Titanic.

The signs of dwindling interest in the election and fading hope for the future among young people in New York City are everywhere. Since Barack Obama's January victory in Iowa, I have witnessed soaring optimism and an unprecedented political engagement among previously dialed-out members of my generation. I have seen it in San Francisco, Rhode Island, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and the Twin Cities: a new political generation, hopeful, passionate and elated.

All of that seems very far away right now.

On a recent Saturday night, two young, professional black women boarded the A train at 42nd Street and stood next to me, chattering loudly. It was early in the evening, but they were coming from having a few drinks (one of them was holding an empty martini glass in her hand, an assumed souvenir). At first, I couldn't tell what they were talking about, but it sounded like troubles in love. "I don't know why we keep lying to ourselves, girl." Her friend shook her head and clicked her teeth. Then she went on. "I mean, when was the last time somebody was elected president and did what they said they were gonna do?"

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