As an older person myself, the lesson I take from the Obama years is that Democrats can't win if they break faith with the young-which is precisely what Obama did.

The young weren't demanding that Obama NEVER compromise- but they were asking, and had every right to ask- that the compromises be treated as only temporary and that those struggling for broader change never be told to shut up and go away.

Obama could have had high turnout among the young in 2010 if he'd said things like this: "You are right-this bill is not good enough. It's the best we could get in this Congress, but it's not good enough, and you are totally valid in fighting for more. If you will work as hard in 2010 as you did in 2008, if you can elect MORE progressive Democrats to Congress, we can fix this bill and we can undo the half-measures we had to settle for on most of the things we passed this year. I was wrong to listen to those who wanted me to leave you out in the cold, and that will now change-I'm now actually going to give you the real say I promised you in 2008. You are right to be angry-you are right to be passionate- you are right to be dissatisfied-and if you will take all of those valid, justified feelings and use them to motivate yourselves as you did two years ago, we can get the kind of Congress that WILL pass the things you want. I need you, the country needs you-work with all your might, and we can make the promise of that beautiful night in November 2008 come true after all".

Why couldn't he give speeches like that in 2009 and 2010?