Bill Clinton SLAMS Millenials!

[IceSpear]

Remember in 2012 when Bill made a speech at the DNC that basically reenergised the Obama reelection campaign? What happened to that guy? He's basically misstepping all over the place - some kind of fast-acting veneral disease addling his brain?

He went from campaigning for a media darling (Obama) to a media nemesis (Hillary)

It's not a coincidence the narrative has transformed from him being one of the best politicians of our time to a senile old man yelling at clowds. And this was the same narrative in 08 as well.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Remember in 2012 when Bill made a speech at the DNC that basically reenergised the Obama reelection campaign? What happened to that guy? He's basically misstepping all over the place - some kind of fast-acting veneral disease addling his brain?

He went from campaigning for a media darling (Obama) to a media nemesis (Hillary)

It's not a coincidence the narrative has transformed from him being one of the best politicians of our time to a senile old man yelling at clowds. And this was the same narrative in 08 as well.

It's actually amusing the fact that Bill Clinton saying what every other Democrat in the country says (that young voters must show up at midterms if they want some change to be enacted) is suddenly considered a campaign-killing gaffe.
Then again they are the same people who thought that his spat with Black Lives Matter would kill Hillary's numbers in Harlem.

[IceSpear]

Remember in 2012 when Bill made a speech at the DNC that basically reenergised the Obama reelection campaign? What happened to that guy? He's basically misstepping all over the place - some kind of fast-acting veneral disease addling his brain?

He went from campaigning for a media darling (Obama) to a media nemesis (Hillary)

It's not a coincidence the narrative has transformed from him being one of the best politicians of our time to a senile old man yelling at clowds. And this was the same narrative in 08 as well.

It's actually amusing the fact that Bill Clinton saying what every other Democrat in the country says (that young voters must show up at midterms if they want some change to be enacted) is suddenly considered a campaign-killing gaffe.
Then again they are the same people who thought that his spat with Black Lives Matter would kill Hillary's numbers in Harlem.

"Will THIS <inconsequential event> finally cause the blacks to abandon the harpy?" is the Democratic equivalent of the "Is Trump REALLY doomed this time?!" threads.

[Xing]

He's not wrong, of course, but merely complaining about Millennials not voting isn't going to accomplish anything.

[7,052,770]

He's right, and he's quite sufferable actually.

[Averroës Nix]

I know that it's just politics-as-cheerleading, but the cadre of Clinton supporters who have used the Sanders campaign as an excuse to whine about (other) millennials is one of the most embarrassing things that I've seen on this forum in this entire election cycle. Trashing a demographic group because it doesn't vote the way that you think it should, or because it fails to turn out as you think it should, is cringeworthy.

Of course young people are less likely to turn out, literally everyone knows that. Demonizing them doesn't help to explain why they're not voting, nor does it do anything to help us understand how to change that.

(Oh, it hardly needs saying, but the idea of the guy who was president fifteen years ago - during the roaring deregulation of the nineties, no less! - blaming people who mostly weren't eligible to vote until 2008 or later for today's economic problems is downright comical.)

[Figueira]

I agree. The voting age should have been lowered to 15, allowing me to vote in 2010.

[This account no longer in use.]

I agree. The voting age should have been lowered to 15, allowing me to vote in 2010.

But that would let a good portion of my classmates vote in 2018 and 2020, and that's how we end up with President Kanye West.

[Averroës Nix]

I agree. The voting age should have been lowered to 15, allowing me to vote in 2010.

But that would let a good portion of my classmates vote in 2018 and 2020, and that's how we end up with President Kanye West.

Right, just like how if we ended felon disenfranchisement they'd probably all vote to make crime legal. Herp derp.

[CapoteMonster]

Clinton didn't blame millenials in this article. He just said things would be different had they shown up in 2010.

[Figueira]

I agree. The voting age should have been lowered to 15, allowing me to vote in 2010.

But that would let a good portion of my classmates vote in 2018 and 2020, and that's how we end up with President Kanye West.

Better than disenfranchisement.

[henster]

Why are people surprised millennials don't fall for the lesser of two evils crap. Honestly if you put up a candidate who is completely uninspiring and unlikable don't be surprised if people don't turn out for them. Is anyone shocked millennials didn't turn out in droves for Kay Hagan, Mark Udall, or Bruce Braley?

[Ebsy]

Why are people surprised millennials don't fall for the lesser of two evils crap. Honestly if you put up a candidate who is completely uninspiring and unlikable don't be surprised if people don't turn out for them. Is anyone shocked millennials didn't turn out in droves for Kay Hagan, Mark Udall, or Bruce Braley?

Mark Udall and Kay Hagan were both staunch liberals and reliable votes for progressive causes. Not everyone can be Bernie Sanders, and even if they were, he's not exactly driving massive gains in youth turnout.

[henster]

Why are people surprised millennials don't fall for the lesser of two evils crap. Honestly if you put up a candidate who is completely uninspiring and unlikable don't be surprised if people don't turn out for them. Is anyone shocked millennials didn't turn out in droves for Kay Hagan, Mark Udall, or Bruce Braley?

Mark Udall and Kay Hagan were both staunch liberals and reliable votes for progressive causes. Not everyone can be Bernie Sanders, and even if they were, he's not exactly driving massive gains in youth turnout.

They were both terrible candidates, their campaigns centered around the other candidates being worse than them. That is not inspiring, millennials want something to vote for not against.

[Anna Komnene]

It's kinda misleading to blame lower youth turnout for midterm woes.  Democrats in general had lower turnout - not just young democrats, and more millennials voted republican than before.  Not to mention different house districts between 2008 and 2014.  I think the real problem is a lot of people just don't care about congressional elections.  

[Mercenary]

What exactly would be different?

[henster]

I think a midterm under Hillary would be worse than either 2010 or 2014. How is someone with her unfavorable #'s going to campaign with Ds?

[izixs]

There is some good stuff in some of the later posts in this thread thus far, but I think I'll also point out that railing against a demographic group because they don't support you pretty much means you either don't want their votes on principal or don't need them. For the primary, Hillary doesn't need their votes to win. For the general, she probably will. But poisoning the well now isn't going to help with that. For that, Bill saying this isn't going to help.

As has been pointed out, the Democratic vote across the board falls off for midterms. As such, someone could pick pretty much any Democratic leaning demographic to harp on. But because putting the blame on racial minorities would be rightly labeled racist, folks looking for someone to blame jump to a more acceptable target. And since ageism isn't a thing most folks recognize as being a thing in practice, its ok to point at the young folks for all your electoral woes.

So don't be surprised if this kind of pointing of fingers loses Clinton (and the rest of the party) votes in the general. Hell, railing against 'those darn millenials' is really in fashion inside (and outside) the Democratic party right now. I've seen many Clinton supporters call the entire Sanders campaign racist because some of his supporters got angsty over Clinton winning AA buy such huge margins. Well, perhaps its time to turn this game around a bit and start calling out the ageism.

Or... we could all just chill and condemn racist and ageist sentiments. Because this kind of crap isn't helping the party, now or in the long term. This is how you destroy a party, pitting parts of its coalition against another.

[Frodo]

It's been pointed out before, and this incident reminds me, that though Bill Clinton was (and still is) a master political strategist and a gifted campaigner, when the person he is campaigning for is someone he loves and cares about, he loses his mind by letting his love for Hillary cloud his judgment.  

For the sake of her own campaign (as well as himself) Hillary needs to put her husband out to pasture until the convention.  

[Landslide Lyndon]

It's the millennials who constantly whine about Obama and the Democrats not keeping up with their promises. Well guess what: if you don't show up during the midterms and allow Republicans take control of congress and local governments then nobody, not even Sanders or Lenin himself can keep up his promises.
And if telling the cold, hard truth is hurting their feelings, then tough luck. Go vote for Jill Stein and watch afterwards how Ted Cruz or TRUMP turn the US into a Russia-like oligarchy.