While change has begun, our image in the eyes of the rest of the world has been so tarnished and tainted by corrupt government officials that we must accept nothing less than a complete turnaround. If we want to gain back the respect of the world that so many generations before us fought so hard to achieve, we have to take responsibility into our own hands.

Illinois senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama has stepped up to the challenge of not only taking back power from a lunatic dictator, but also giving back that power to the people who elect. Obama is not running this campaign for himself or his own personal business agenda. He's running for us. A community leader in touch with his surroundings, Obama is just the change this country needs.

Several new media outlets are available to candidates who wish to interact with voters, and vice versa. In an effort to communicate more effectively and spark initiative with voters, Obama has taken new steps toward creating a campaign following that is less about himself and more about the people he is representing. An example of this can be seen on his Web site barackobama.com, where visitors are encouraged to sign up for a Web blog of their own and discuss what this election and the issues at hand mean to them. A large number of other media sources promise to shape this election and change the way we think about political marketing for years to come.

YouTube.com and Facebook.com are just two of the many new venues that candidates are tapping into to help secure votes. Laugh it up, but these Web juggernauts are serious business when it comes to securing the young adult vote. According to the Federal Election Commission, the 2000 election was, ahem, won by President Bush by just more than half a percent more votes than Al Gore. The 2004 elections told a similar story with Bush edging out John Kerry by just 2.46 percent more votes.

Now more than ever, every single vote counts. Just reminisce back to late 2000 when breaking news meant finding just a handful of votes for one candidate or the other. These are important details, and you can bet that other presidential hopefuls, not just Obama, are paying close attention to these relatively new media outlets.

YouTube offers a special section called "You Choose '08," where viewers can download and watch speeches and interviews — and soon commercials — for every serious presidential candidate on the market. Not to mention the fact that every registered user can upload their own personal videos for the entire world to see. Facebook is chock-full of groups supporting or denouncing every candidate or issue imaginable, with users able to post comments and interact with others from across the globe. This might sound like small potatoes, but the important thing to remember is that Web sites such as these help to grab the attention of MySpacers and the like who might not otherwise give a hoot about politics at all. These are the people who very possibly could be the small percentage difference in the next election.

Let us be the generation that sparks a revolution of change in this country. It is no longer acceptable to sit idly and take what has been given to us. We need to support a candidate that has our best interests in mind, not just the privileged few. Obama has given us a basis to start building toward a change — it is our turn to give back. Remember, this campaign is about you.

Let's get off the couch and change the channel — I think we're all sick of watching reruns.

David McAllister is an MSU psychology and human resources and society senior and State News columnist. Reach him at mcalli34@msu.edu.