As a youngish person, the main issues for me are:

Social Security--making sure that I have it when I retire
Health care--universal access to medicine
Economy--job growth, fair wages, and access to low-cost housing
National security--working to end animosity against the US
Education--free or low-cost education as they have in Europe
Environment--creating a sustainable future
Developing world--making sure that people are being treated fairly

As baby-boomers age, people of so-called Gen-X and Gen-Y need to become political enough and confrontational enough to have our needs met. There are too many of us that working to enrich the baby boomer generation and those even older and not having basic needs met. We are unable to purchase houses and get ahead in the workplace. We are playing exorbitant rates for health care. We are in debt because tuition is so high. We need to have our voices heard so that we make sure that these issues are addressed in the campaign. I'm not hearing these issues being addressed enough. I want to know where each candidate stands.

I think that both Obama and Hillary have excellent ideas about health care. The Democrats have had stronger opinions against privatization of social security. (Is that good?)

What are your ideas on how the candidates are meeting issues that are important to youth?

Throughout history, various leaders of nations have had a mystique about them that has lead the people to either stand at attention or rebel. Consider Queen Elizabeth, the virgin queen. She led the country with a vigor, and she was portrayed as being almost sterile but full of life and hope. She gave people optimism until she did not care enough about their feelings.

In understanding the election, it's important to consider the role the president plays in directing our emotions. How will the president be perceived by the people, the heart of the country? How will the president be perceived abroad?

While economists can provide figures, directing the president's decision-making process, the president's role is really to negotiate power and emotion.

How will a woman president be perceived? Considering Clinton's past with her husband as a strong woman who stood by him even when he had an affair, a fact which the whole country knows, will the people see her as stable, able to forgive? Probably.

How will the country see Obama, who has stood up for the poor and cares for the individual? Certainly Obama's intentions have had less press. And who knows how many people have read his book? On a recent afternoon at my local library in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in San Francisco, two copies of his book, The Audacity of Hope, were still on the shelf. However intellectuals choose to judge him, for the people he still represents an image of hope. In the context of 9/11, he also represents to the world open-mindedness, that we Americans would embrace the "other."

The real question is, how will the people feel? Yes, a woman will make women in America feel empowered. A magazine article I read recently was giving direction about the color coat she should wear for MLK's birthday service, a regal plum. Ironic? Is she supposed to look like a queen? It is not always empowering to be told what to do, unless it is good advice. She represents a vision that women are equal, level headed, and able to raise beautiful and strong children.

But let us not highlight difference. Let us really examine their intentions, their character, and the possibility their being evokes. Even as a woman, I am inspired by Obama's story, his background, and his vision. And because of that, I feel empowered.