Pleasing Generation O

Obama has also asked Congress to raise the maximum Pell Grant amount again and make the normally unpredictable grant levels rise annually with inflation. The catch: to pay for it, Obama wants to eliminate subsidies to student-lending companies. The lenders have spent years building relationships on the Hill in case of just such a battle. Observers say Obama and congressional Democratic leaders may try to use the budget reconciliation process to avoid blocks on the subsidy proposal by Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, and others who want to protect lenders in their home states. On Friday, Obama met with a family struggling to pay for college, and gave a speech to rachet-up pressure on wavering legislators. "The banks and lenders ... are gearing up for a battle," the president said, "and so am I."

The SERVE Act, another major youth initiative, was signed into law by Obama on April 21. It fulfills Obama's campaign pledge to dramatically expand opportunities for young people who want to participate in community service and earn money for college or graduate school. Americorps, the domestic Peace Corps program first established by President Clinton, will be expanded from 75,000 to 250,000 annual slots. And even those young environmental activists got their special share: there will be a new "clean energy corps" that will provide thousands of service opportunities to work on energy-efficiency projects such as weatherizing low-income homes.

One issue of importance to many youth activists that Obama hasn't addressed yet: voting rights. Every election shows young people are more likely to be disenfranchised by the often inscrutable laws governing registration and voting in the states. Young workers and college students, who often move frequently, are especially vulnerable to registration snafus. Obama's votes in the Senate and statements on the campaign trail are signs that he will support election reform if bills to ease registration are proposed, says Sujatha Jahagirdar, program director of the Student PIRGs' New Voters Project.

But even the famously conciliatory Obama has not won over the one third of young people who voted against him. Young Republicans say they fear his national-service program may favor left-leaning charities and that his new domestic spending is simply too expensive. They frame deficit spending as a generational issue. "He's taken the very people who put him in office and thrown them under the bus," says Charlie Smith, chairman of the College Republicans. "He's strapped trillions of dollars in new spending and new debt to this generation."

It seems that is the one thing young liberals and conservatives do agree on: they all expect to live a lot longer, and, whether it is spending or global warming, to bear the consequences of decisions made today.

© 2009