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A lot has been said and published about US democratic nominee Barack Obama.Recently my American friend shared with me her brother's opinion on Obamania.

Writing on the front page of Appleton Post Crescent in the US on early this month,Bruce Smith,my friend's brother,highlighted on the disillusionment threatening American young voters and his deep-seated cynicism for American politics and political process.

Bruce Smith,a 55-year old Appleton resident and a community member of The Post-Crescent editorial board narrated in the publication how on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 1972,his first presidential election date at age 19 years voted for a candidate he was passionate about.

His candidate was a relatively young, charismatic senator who promised change from the political establishment. He also promised to stop a destructive war that was dividing USA and sapping her national strength and standing in the world.

Bruce's candidate was running against an old-line politico entrenched in the Washington establishment and schooled in the traditional politics of smoke-filled rooms and dirty tricks.

Bruce believed that his candidate was going to change all that. Through the magic of the ballot box, Bruce's vote, along with the votes of millions of other like-minded young people, was going to create a new America of honesty and equality.

It was his generation's chance to step up and take their place in the political process.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out George McGovern lost that election to Richard Nixon.

Bruce arrgues that Mc Govern did not lose but was crushed because he garnered a mere 38 percent of the vote, to Nixon's 61 percent. George carried only a single state (Massachusetts) and didn't even win his home state of South Dakota.

It was a humiliating defeat, not just for McGovern, but for all of those who felt so passionately about his vision.

The vote had crushed Bruce's enthusiasm for the process and he has never trusted it since.

The events(continued war and eventual defeat, the Watergate events and the resignation of the president of the United States) that followed the election of Richard Nixon did nothing to restore his faith in the system: .

Bruce's reaction was not to withdraw from the process, but never really to believe that his vote could make a difference, at least not on the national level.He essentially threw his next two presidential ballots away.

During the presidential candidacies of Eugene McCarthy in 1976 and John Anderson in 1980 ,Bruce was one of a handful of

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