A casting call went out today for Barack Obama's upcoming youth town hall. This is from Backstage.com:
PRESIDENT OBAMA TOWN HALL, MTV
MTV, BET and CMT are casting the audience for town hall meeting with President Obama. Shooting Oct. 14, 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
Seeking—Audience Members: males & females, 18+.
To apply, email townhallaudience@mtvnmix.com and put "Town Hall" in the subject line. To ensure that the audience represents diverse interests and political views, include your name, phone number, hometown, school attending, your job and what issues, if any, you are interested in or passionate about. Also, provide a recent photo and short description of your political views. Submission deadline: Oct. 14. No pay.
Naturally, National Review is already questioning whether MTV plans on hand-picking liberal youths who will go easy on the president. But I'd remind them of two things: 1. Young voters overwhelmingly support Democrats, meaning that, regardless of who the casting company chooses, the pool from which they'll be picking is one swimming with blue fish. If they want an accurate representation of the youth vote, they'll need pick more Democrats than Republicans. And 2. Judging by Obama's most recent town hall, during which a woman told him directly that she was "tired of defending" him and his administration, it seems safe to say that the president doesn't demand ideological parity from his audinces. In fact, I'm inclined to think the young conservatives they’ll find to pepper the crowd will probably be a bit more irreverent (read: tougher) than their older counterparts. It will be interesting to watch.
--Cord Jefferson is a staff writer at The Root. Follow him on Twitter.