“There is a series of events that have motivated our generation to be one of the greatest generations since the Great Depression generation.”

Question: What did Obama's election mean to you?

Kari Fulton: It means a lot.  It definitely means a lot because I think there are so many people who doubt it that it will actually happen.  There are so many people who said, yeah, it's cool but it's not going to happen or he's going to get assassinated. I mean, I was watching the inauguration and watching him getting sworn and I was like, "And there's going to be shot now." Like, I was so scared and so it meant so much, I think, to our generation and I'm coining our generation "Generation Why Not"?  Because I think that he exemplified all the possibilities of what you can do if you just believe and try hard enough.  He is the most relevant Horatio Alger story that we have had in this country in a long time and, you know, for young people, especially young people of color, who didn't think that that was possible, that meant a lot.  And I think that that motivated so many of us...

There is a series of events that have motivated our generation to be one of the greatest generations since the Great Depression generation. One of those was Hurricane Katrina, one of those was having a dick in the office for 8 years who hung out with a bush and then after that it was getting to that point of so much frustration that that the audacity... that we actually had the audacity to go outside of our box and elect a young African-American president. 

And that is what's redefining our generation and not only just the economic situation but I think that...we were so complacent during Bush's term, we were so overwhelmed by how ridiculous it was that we didn't feel like we could do anything about it and Obama's win shows that we can if we put our minds to it.  And I think that's what it meant to me the most is that it was very motivating of my own personal role. 

Recorded on: May 8, 2009