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I am a 48-year-old loyal Democratic volunteer, and I am sick to death of my party giving all the plum campaign jobs to snot-nosed kids with their how-cool-am-I attitudes and their overblown sense of entitlement.
Amanda boo-hoo-hoos about the virulent sexism she encountered. Well, I can entertain her with stories about the rampant AGEism I've experienced from the likes of her and her compatriots. I have 25 years' worth of experience in the business world, yet the just-out-of-college paid campaign staff treats me like I'm a drooling idiot. My ideas are greeted with blank stares, or worse yet, barely-suppressed smirks.
What inside-the-beltway genius decided that it was a good idea for the Democratic party to aggressively chase after the MTV/iPod/MySpace generation, while ignoring those of us middle-aged and older? I, for one, won't be bookmarking any campaign blogs, because I have better things to do with my time than read the aren't-I-oh-so-clever snark of some 20-something campaign staffer.
Dammit, I want candidates to engage ME in a dialogue, instead of pandering to young hipsters. Fuck the kids: what about us adults?!?
P.S. I finally found my niche in my local party organization, by working closely with our party vice chair. He's 62 years old, and regularly makes noises about hanging it up. I will do everything I can to keep him on board, because he treats me as one SHOULD treat a trusted volunteer -- like gold. Oh, and the young whippersnappers often annoy the crap out of him, too!
