I remember going to see John Kerry speak at the capitol building in Madison, WI during the last presidential election. He drew an enormous crowd, not only because Madison is a relatively liberal bastion sitting deep inside a surrounding pool of conservatism, but also because Kerry had Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl in tow. At a recent rally at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Kohl Center, Barack Obama filled the stands with almost 20,000 people, more people than any basketball or hockey game had ever managed to draw—no small feat considering the central role of sports in this Big 10 college town. In this election, Obama doesn’t need Bruce Springsteen. Obama is Springsteen.

With two Grammy wins under his belt, celebrity endorsements as far as the eye can see, a hit youtube video, and a presence that brings crowds to their feet, Barack Obama has taken the formerly milktoast role of presidential candidate and officially launched it into the realm of superstardom.

Or at least that’s the feeling I got from the teeming crowd of by in large college undergrads who thronged to the Kohl Center to catch a glimpse of Obama. The elusive 18-24 yr old voting bracket that supposedly doesn’t care much about politics found themselves curiously motivated to wait in line up to 4 hours in freezing temperatures just to get the chance to see Barack Obama speak for 20 minutes.

And while I couldn’t survey all 20,000 people, the feeling of political engagement inside the Kohl Center was palpable. Obama’s rallying speech focused strategically on issues of education, political change, and what he has called a “politics of hope.” Detractors have often criticized Obama for being a skillful orator but lacking any realistic agenda to back up many of his political goals, including his commitment to put the power of political change back in the hands of the people.

But is a “politics of hope” merely a slogan, a glossy surface belying an empty promise? I think to write off Obama’s cry for hope as mere propaganda is to allow the dense cloud of political disenchantment hovering over the country for the last 8 years to suppress the awakening political consciousness of individuals like these college-aged students who are now finding themselves with an uncontrollable urge to participate in the political process. Whether or not you believe what Obama has to say, or even if you agree with his politics, the fact of the matter remains that this is an individual who has roused young voters from a deep political sleep. If a politics of hope means blazing a legitimate path for civic engagement, then I’ll take hopemongering over warmongering any day of the week.