By Gabriella Landeros
Vice President Joe Biden energized a large group of young voters on Tuesday night during an appearance at the historic Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Biden spent the majority of his 15 minutes on stage drawing lines between President Obama and his likely opponent in the general election this Fall, Mitt Romney. He did that mainly by focusing on the issues young voters are more apt to care about.
A vote for Obama, Biden said, would yield a country where the “environment is protected and we’ve moved to clean and renewable energy, education is a national priority, responsibility to continue to fight to end the combat going on in Afghanistan, an immigration policy worthy of national values, and an economy that has built to last and grow the middle class.”
“Does anybody in this audience think that had the other team won, the war in Iraq would be over right now?” Biden asked. The crowd unanimously roared, “No!” Biden also reminded those in attendance that Obama has installed two female Supreme Court Justices, passed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act for women, and repealed the military’s ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy regarding gays and lesbians.
“What else will we be revisiting if there’s a Romney presidency and a Republican Congress?” Biden asked. “What do you think will happen to your grandparents’ Medicare and Medicaid? How about children and pre-existing conditions, what do you think will happen to them?”
President Obama rode a record wave of youth support to victory in 2008, and both he and Biden understand that if they are to repeat this year, younger voters will again have to play a large role.
“It’s a very bad bet to bet against you because your know better, you know what’s at stake,” Biden told the crowd. “You showed up before…I’m confident your generation’s going to show up again.”
The fundraiser was organized by Gen 44, the under-40 outreach arm of the official Obama campaign. According to a pool report of the event, “tickets for the event started at $25 each and all proceeds were for the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee of Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and several state Democratic parties.”
