Former Obama adviser tells Kean students to believe

By Craig Epstein | Published by December 7, 2019

A former key adviser to President Barack Obama expressed to a packed audience at Kean University that young people have the tools to galvanize and create change.

Speaking in the STEM Auditorium on Nov. 21 as part of Kean’s Distinguished Lecture Series, David Axelrod urged young people to play a significant role in politics.

“You’re the ones who have to take that torch and take that next step,” Axelrod said. “Whatever it is that you are concerned about, whether it’s the climate, social justice, or inequality, you have the opportunity and the tools to make an enormous difference. You can do that work and my fervent hope is that you will and we’ll all be in your debt for doing so.”

Axelrod takes great pride that Obama was able to galvanize young voters and they not only seemed to believe in him, but also in society’s ability to advance.

According to pewresearch.org, Obama garnered 66 percent of the youth vote (age 18-29) in the 2008 election, compared to Senator John McCain’s 31 percent. This trend of youthful optimism continued in the 2012 election against Republican nominee Mitt Romney when Obama easily won the youth vote nationally, 67 percent to 30 percent, according to Politico.

Axelrod began his career as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune before joining the campaign of U.S. Senator Paul Simon. It wasn’t until 1992 that he first met Obama through Bettylu Saltzman who firmly believed that he could one day become the first African American president in U.S. history.

“I met Obama and he was thoroughly impressive, as you’d expect,” Axelrod said. “He had been the editor of the Harvard Law Review and he came back to run a voter registration drive.”

After listening to him speak, Axelrod knew that there was something special about the young Chicagoan.

“He took a job teaching Constitutional law as an instructor at the University of Chicago, but as he spoke he talked about his desire to serve the community, be somebody, and be about something larger than himself,” Axelrod said. “And I realized as he spoke this guy could have written his ticket at any law firm, any corporation in America, and set himself up for life.”

Axelrod went on to discuss the many different experiences he had with Obama, one of which included how he came upon the slogan “Yes we can.”

“We were doing our first ad for Obama in the Senate race, it was a biographical edit that told his story and the improbable story of his life and what he had been able to accomplish in public life,” Axelrod said. “And at the end of it, it ended with ‘now they say we can’t change Washington, well I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message to say yes we can.”

While Obama initially felt that the phrase might have been “too corny,” Axelrod loved the line and felt a huge sense of relief when Michelle Obama ensured him that it wasn’t.

“I thought it encapsulated everything that we’re trying to communicate,” Axelrod said. “It’s not about him, it’s about us and it’s about what we can do together and it’s affirmative and it’s positive and makes that whole case.”

Something that Axelrod cherishes is that he was able to be a part of the first African American elected to the Oval Office. He feels that this achievement symbolized the progress that the U.S. had made.

“The president has a certain chair that he sits in when you’re having these meetings and above him was the portrait of George Washington,” Axelrod said. “I always loved the image of George Washington, who had slaves, and Barack Obama sitting in George Washington’s chair as a symbol of the progress that we’ve made.”

More than anything else, Axelrod said he is grateful for the time that he got to spend with Obama and holds a firm belief in the U.S. political system.

“I feel really blessed to have had an opportunity to work for a president who understood his responsibilities, that there were things even more important than winning elections, and that he was going to make his time in office count,” Axelrod said. “My book is called ‘Believer’ and my belief is not in him, although it’s clear that I have a deep belief in him, my belief is in this system of ours. And so in these dark days when our institutions are being tested, let us fight for them so we continue to have institutions that function and tools that allow us to perfect our union.”

As a Graduate Assistant for the Human Rights Institute, Valeria Dibrova also agreed with a lot of the sentiments that Axelrod shared and feels that the bitter divide in political viewpoints today is damaging to the United States as a whole.

“Without a doubt, I believe the point that David Axelrod made about the split in our society is crucial to understand,” Dibrova said. “It seems and feels like politics don’t work for the common good anymore. The hatred between young people is constantly escalating and those are such sad and hurtful dynamics we’re witnessing today.”

Axelrod touched upon many different aspects of his political career, including how he became interested in politics.

“John F. Kennedy was coming to Stuyvesant town, it was October 27, 1960, and he was actually campaigning in New York City,” Axelrod said. “A Democrat actually campaigning 12 days before an election in New York, but New York was very competitive, and he was running against Richard Nixon.”

Axelrod spoke of his great admiration for Kennedy and that to this day, his words still resonate with the Manhattan native.

“Part of what he said was ‘I’m not here running on the platform that says if you elect me everything will be easy,’ Axelrod described. “‘Being an American citizen in the 1960s is a hazardous occupation filled with peril, but also hope and this election will determine which path we take and the underlying message.’”

Axelrod found himself working for Robert Kennedy where he learned many valuable lessons.

“He said ‘the future is not a gift, it’s an achievement,’” Axelrod described. “‘And through the tools that democracy affords us, we try and achieve a better future.’”

Prior to the event, Axelrod spoke to a group of aspiring journalists as well as political science and public relations majors. Ranging from his first encounter with Obama to the fact that he is the son of a Ukrainian immigrant, Axelrod feels that while it is an easy time to lose faith in politics, he still believes that it is the young people who play a significant role.

“Several times he mentioned that he loved working with young people, and I found that very insightful because some professionals tend to disregard young people,” said Tyshiana Johnson, a Communication/Public Relations major. “I enjoyed listening to an individual who was a part of an amazing part of American history.”

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