It's impossibly slick, unmistakably geared toward the young, and impressively fresh. At My.BarackObama.com, "the campaign is about you.' The familiar name is no mistake: the site for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign has the look and feel of a simplified MySpace. Upon signing up for the site, those drinking the Obama Kool-Aid can list friends, events, messages, groups, even a blog on their page. Only such a young, hip dude like Obama could even think of creating such an interactive web empire of a campaign. I mean, My.HillaryClinton.com? Not a chance. So even though I despise MySpace and anything that remotely resembles it, I joined the site. As a full-fledged Obama endorser, I wanted to show my support--and figure out what the hell the site was all about. So I created a username, filled out a profile, uploaded a picture of my little smiling face, and joined the group "Northwestern University Students for Obama.'Perusing the website proved quite interesting. I'm not typically a reader of political blogs (I prefer lighter fare like PerezHilton.com or GoFugYourself.typepad.com), but this little site has really managed to catch my interest. I don't think I'm alone here: judging by the fact that the most populous group on the site is "Students for Barack Obama," I'd say it's managed to grab the attention of a significant number of young voters. Obama knows what he's doing here. By taking the rough format of one of the most popular pages on the web, Obama is creating an extremely user-friendly campaign. By doing so, he's pulling in the barely-legal crowd, a species that derives its very sustenance from social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, a crowd with immense political power when its members actually use it. Voter turnout for the college-age crowd has increased slightly in recent elections, but is still pretty dismal at 47% in 2004 (I blame P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" crusade; maybe if it were any other rapper it would've been more threatening). Obama's site gives me hope for this number to rise in 2008. His is a grassroots campaign with a technological twist: focused on the people, but requiring little effort for them to show their support--genius, given the laziness of the average college kid (I include myself in this sweeping generalization). By using such an interactive, fresh campaign technique, Obama has offered kids like me a chance to get personally involved in politics in a relatively easy manner. He's basically spoon-feeding us the opportunity to assert our potentially massive political influence. The feel of Obama's campaign fits perfectly with his image: young, fresh, revolutionary, perfect for the 18 to 24 crowd. The guy's got some definite charm working for him. I mean, he's kind of rock and roll--but in a relatable way. Obama's even admitted to doing some drugs as a kid; he's definitely no Keith Richards, but he got into some semi-heavy stuff. His honesty about the situation is refreshing: Obama said to the press in 2006, "I inhaled--that was the point." Sure, Clinton admitted to smoking weed, but he "didn't inhale." First, I call bullshit--you don't smoke if you're not gonna inhale--and second, so what? Marijuana schmarijuana; this new dude's confessing to doing coke. In a move that would probably kill the career of any other politician, Obama admitted to doing what even Lindsay Lohan doesn't fess up to, and I'm impressed. He's kind of bad-ass, and I think it only contributes to his public persona, especially in the eyes of the typical college student. Still, is this slick exterior—the interactive website, his easy cadence, that charming smile—just a façade obscuring what many consider to be Obama's "lack of experience?'I don't think so. Sure, his political career seems rather narrow in scope: eight years in the Illinois state senate and two years as an Illinois senator don't quite seem a sufficient prerequisite for the presidency. But while his background isn't traditional, it works. He offers a different kind of experience. And in case you didn't know, Lincoln was only in the House for two years prior to his presidency, and the Devil (you might know him as Dick Cheney) is about as politically experienced as you can get. Enough said. The unusual nature of Obama's background is what makes him so intriguing: a community organizer and civil rights legislator before entering the political arena, Obama has devoted his life to more than the corrupt jungle that is Washington. Do we really need--or want--another stale, stodgy Washington cog in the White House? To be completely cliché, Obama is a much-needed breath of fresh air. Even more crucial to Obama's intrigue is the fact that he has passion. Pure, unbridled passion that I--and many others--believe has power, the power to effect change in this godforsaken country. Anyone who has seen a clip of Obama speaking can't deny the rapture of his rhetoric. Take the Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/barackobama2004dnc.htm) as a prime example of Obama's rhetorical prowess. In his speech, Obama stressed breaking party boundaries by saying: We worship an 'awesome God' in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we've got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. Not only were these words delivered with such eloquence, but they possess such undeniable substance. Refreshing, given the fact that our current leader inspired such a site as http://www.dubyaspeak.com. Intellectual sophistication counts for a lot in my book, and Obama's got it. It oozes from every word he utters. So yeah, I'm gonna take the hand Obama's offering with his interactive campaign by getting involved and voting in 2008. I don't wanna be lame and quote Whitney Houston, but seriously, we are the future, kids. President Obama can be in that future if we respond to his call to action. But if this whole Obama thing somehow falls through, let's re-elect Gore. I don't care if he's not running for office; write him in. I mean, dude's got an Oscar. That's hot. Interested in being an Obama groupie? E-mail Devonie at d-mccamey@northwestern.edu.