Youth in Revolt: MTV Stages VMAs Opposite DNC's Final Night

Four years ago, then-Sen. Barack Obama had the youth vote in his back pocket.

This year, with so many young voters experiencing empty pockets of their own courtesy of the worst economic recovery in history, that vote is hardly a sure thing.

That makes the arrival of the 2012 Video Music Awards all the worse for Team Obama. The program will air Thursday, the same night Obama speaks before the nation as part of his official re-election campaign.

Now, MTV did shuffle its programming slightly so as not to directly compete with Obama’s speech. Clearly, the network programmers didn’t fear the idea of young Obamabots ignoring the likes of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry for the chance to watch every moment of Obama’s very special night.