This month marks the sixth year since the triumph of hope over helplessness, fear, and greed. Young people defied their demographic chains, withdrawing from apathy and providing the votes necessary to tip the electoral scales and elect Barack Obama president. The memes and tropes were all in place. After years of George W. Bush’s halting and sometimes incoherent speech, we elected ourselves a champion talker. But he proved disastrous as a politician—unless derailing a progressive uprising was his aim.