but the long-term future of the president s agenda and of the values that move his supporters hinges on whether that coalition will become a permanent, full-fledged participant in electoral politics. whether, in other words, obama s voters begin treating every election like it s 2008 or 2012. there are two new reports that offer a revealing glimpse into whether that coalition will be the change they ve waited for. one study conducted by a demographer at the brookings institution found that despite widespread republican-led efforts to suppress their turnout, african-american voters last fall participated at a greater rate than white voters for the first time in history. their mobilization and that of other non-white con stin wencys proved decisive in his re-election. if white and black voters had voted in the same proportion last year that they did in 2004, we would actually have president romney today. another study found that young people, another crucial part of the obama coalition,
was running against obama. she took a lot of heat for this at the time. i want to play it. none of the problems we face will be easily solved. now, i could stand up here and say, let s just get everybody together. let s get unified. the sky will open. the light will come down. celestial choirs will be singing. and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect! you seem to suggest that somehow these folks over there have no responsibilities and that my job is to somehow get them to behave. that s their job. they are elected, members of congress are elected in order to do what s right for their con stin wencys and for the american people. it feels to me like barack