The Party of Lame

One slightly odd fact about the Clinton-Obama race is that it has such clear undertones of a cool versus uncool dynamic. Obama has "Yes We Can", Clinton has Celine Dion. Obama likes The Wire, Clinton likes Ugly Betty. Given that there are serious issues in play in the country -- war, health care, climate change -- it all seems a bit unbecoming. But at least Obama supporters get to be on the "cool" side of the dichotomy. Alex Joseph tells the tale of woe of the student for Clinton:

I'm a young male Democrat, and I support ... Hillary Clinton. I may be the loneliest man at Georgetown University, where I'm practically a social pariah. Supporting Hillary on a college campus this year is like being a Yankees fan at a Red Sox game, a Barry Manilow lover at a Radiohead concert.

It's a good piece. Of course on another level, once you take the gender dynamics into account ("Among young Hillary supporters, men are virtually nonexistent. Of the 60 members of Facebook's "Hilltop—Georgetown Students for Hillary" group, only seven are men.") the young male Hillary fan on campus may not be in such bad shape.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/02/the-party-of-lame/48343/