Historic Race for the Presidency Creates a Buzz … Even at Ferris
by Sandy Gholston, April 24, 2008
With the Democratic Party's presidential nomination at stake, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton currently are engaged in one of the fiercest, yet most intriguing and historic, political battles in the history of the United States. In some ways, this race for the Democratic nomination has been reality television at its best, but with unprecedented importance and remarkably high stakes. It doesn't get any more real than it has been so far in this political arena and in this clash of the Democratic titans. While Obama and Clinton just met on yet another hotly-contested political battlefield in Pennsylvania, the plots and subplots of this race clearly have captured and held the nation's attention.
Clinton and Obama, the two finalists for the tightly-contested Democratic presidential nomination in a race that could go all the way to the Democratic National Convention, have captured the attention of people nationwide - including locally at Ferris State University. Justin Jackson, who serves as president of Democratic Progressive Students for Social Justice, a Registered Student Organization at Ferris, has come to understand the particular importance of this year's presidential election. Jackson, who also is Web editor and an opinions columnist for the Ferris State Torch, believes this is a particularly important election because of the long-term impact it could have energizing different wings of the Democratic Party.
"This election year marks a very important milestone not only for the Democratic Party, but also as a country as a whole. As both minorities in many Americans' eyes, it is amazing to see how far we have come with two such highly-qualified and diverse candidates," said Jackson as he highlighted a race that features what many people would view as two historically-disadvantaged groups (a woman and an African-American man). "If either Barack or Hillary ends up winning the general election, then we will finally have a leader who will be looking at the Oval Office through a set of eyes that does not belong to a white male. Hopefully, since our two finalists are both a woman and African-American, more minorities in the Democratic Party will be inspired to run for some type of office, whether it be for city council or even the presidency."
Locally, Jackson is hopeful that DPSSJ can have a positive impact on this and future elections. In addition to bringing speakers to campus, the organization plans to urge students to vote.
"In the fall, we are planning on hosting voter registration drives, informational discussion panels, and bring in more speakers to talk about the hot-button issues," said Jackson, who feels strongly that issues such as the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, social security and global warming are among the many issues that will be important to voters. "As an organization, we are aligning ourselves with more of the issues our nation is facing, rather than the candidates running for office. But don't worry; we will be campaigning for all of the Democratic candidates on the ballot this November."
Jackson is confident that students, including Ferris students, have become more energized and can have an impact on the nation's future by exercising their right to vote.
"As we have already seen with the primary elections across the nation, young voters are registering and voting in record numbers," said Jackson as the race between Clinton and Obama heats up and discussions about delegates and super delegates become even more important. "Even though for many people this will be their first presidential election that they can vote in, their voice is still very important. Seeing as how our generation will be paying for our nation's debt, I believe that every Ferris student should be registered to vote and should cast their ballot for whoever they please on Nov. 4."
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