Barack Obama and John McCain participated in a presidential forum on national service held to commemorate the seventh anniversary of 9/11. The forum—part of the Service Nation Summit convened in New York City—was a solemn, thoughtful reflection on how America has changed since 9/11. The focus was on ways that Americans can serve their communities and their country at a time of critical need, and the candidates had a chance to air their ideas on promoting civic engagement.

Much of the conversation revolved around national service among young people—and that’s only natural. Military service plays a big part in the public national service discussion, as do ideas linking help with college tuition and service.

Civic engagement also is a very hot topic among older Americans, especially baby boomers approaching retirement age. Obama and McCain both have acknowledged the importance of engaging older Americans; both candidates propose expanding the Senior Corps, which is part of CNCS and focuses on volunteering for Americans over age 55.

But I haven’t heard much yet from either candidate suggesting that either really gets it when it comes to the potential of unleashing millions of baby boomers on our country’s problems at a time when they have the time—and numbers—to make a difference.

Both candidates are sponsors in the Senate of the Serve America Act, bi-partisan legislation introduced today by Senators Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch, (R-Utah) that aims to attract 175,000 new volunteers in the next five years. The bill would provide $5 billion over five years to help nonprofits, community organizations and faith-based programs create volunteer opportunities to assist low-income Americans in areas such as education, health care and job training.

Obama’s position on national service is here. McCain’s can be found here.

I’ll have more on this in an upcoming column. Meanwhile, here’s video of the candidate interviews at ServiceNation.

Barack Obama at the ServiceNation Summit

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

John McCain at the ServiceNation Summit

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Tags | volunteering