Reince Priebus: You Are Failing Us Too

Impact

If there is one thing millennials love, it's being talked down to like we're still in grade school – like our desire for change and our dream for a better future is cute and naïve.

That's the conventional approach of too many political leaders. And as is often the case of conventional approaches, it's far from what millennials are looking for.

Yesterday, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party wrote a blog post on PolicyMic highlighting a poll that he said demonstrated our discontent with President Obama. He's right. The president hasn't been able to deliver the sweeping change we had hoped for during the campaign. We were promised a lot, and many of us are still waiting.

But that's not the whole story. Priebus conveniently overlooked a key part of the poll he referenced repeatedly throughout his post. Page eight of the poll says 46% of 18-29 year olds disapprove of President Obama's job performance, while 52% of them approve.

Continue down the page: 58% disapprove of the job performance of Democrats in Congress while 40% approve of it.

And then, at the bottom of the eighth page of the poll, concerning the ratings of Republicans in Congress – the party Priebus chairs – 71% of 18-29 year olds disapprove of the job performance of Republicans in Congress, while only 27% of them approve.

Funny how that figure didn't make the post.

See, when Priebus says that President Obama is failing us, he neglects to mention that many of our elected leaders in Washington are failing us too, especially the officials from his own party.

When Priebus harps on the Affordable Care Act for several paragraphs, he disregards the hundreds of thousands of young people who may be without work, but are at least not without health care.

When Priebus says "President Obama's agenda is costing you dearly," he fails to highlight the true cost: a culture in Washington that prioritizes conflict over cooperation.

He's right – it's unfair that we're baring these costs after we've already "borne the brunt of the recession." But it's unfair for him to point fingers and not accept any of the responsibility on behalf of his party.

It's this kind of divisiveness and tired political rhetoric that prevents us from achieving the progress we have been promised and the change that we seek.

It's no wonder we're feeling cynical.