Will Obama's 2012 cadre of enthusiastic celebrity boosters be the same X factor for young voters it was in 2008?

Traditional media have the opportunity to construct a lasting campaign narrative. They also have the resources to most comprehensively investigate the candidates and tell their stories for the general public with the greatest resonance. The campaigns ought to know this.

I am not yet convinced that Web 2.0, while a fast-paced guide to our campaign news and a fundraising jackpot for many candidates, has the same substantive journalistic half-life that mainstream outlets do.

Now, my friend: I am going to deviate completely and ask a question of you (one frequently raised when we analyze the youth vote on cable news and elsewhere).

Will Obama's cadre of enthusiastic celebrity boosters be the same X factor for young voters it was in 2008? Julie Mason asked me this on SiriusXM's POTUS channel today. (One of the most fun and thoughtful politicos, she has invited me to be a regular contributor to her program, The Press Pool.)

For one, 'The Boss' - Bruce Springsteen - says he's reluctant to hit the trail this year. But one-time NBA superstar and Dallas Maverick shooting guard Vince Carter is clearly not. He's hosting a fundraiser for Obama at his Florida home during this week's All-Star hiatus.

(On Thursday, Obama is delivering a key economic address at the University of Miami, where he'll have to strike a convincingly populist tone with Floridian students who are disengaged, according to the data we've analyzed, and not yet likely to vote.)

Back to celebrities: Who doesn't remember the significance of will.i.am's "Yes, We Can" music video, the moving tribute that made Obama a true pop culture icon, transforming his political campaign into a national, even global, movement?

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

Indeed, those cynics (and critics) of Hope & Change have grown louder three years into the Obama administration. And, indeed, governing has become even uglier since '08 for a candidate who promised an end to petty, partisan and problematic American politics.

So, how could the chorus of such a galvanizing video sing today: "Yes, we did (shrink unemployment by a decimal or two)"..."We're getting there"..."Don't change horse midstream"?

Sadly, for both President Obama and the country's morale, there is little sexy about the politics of pragmatism, half-kept or unfulfilled promises or two-party trench warfare.

This is all to say that winning the message war after "Yes, we can," and the subsequent mixed results (at best), will be tough. An even harder pill to swallow for Camp Obama may be the fallout of this for young voters.

Wesley, you and I would never undersell young voters' very real political engagement and concerns, aside from celebrities. But there's no doubt that the momentum of will.i.am and other new generation artists led some first-time voters to a new political consciousness.

In my estimation, right now, the decreasing celebrity song-and-dance surrounding Obama's reelection efforts will probably somewhat dilute youth enthusiasm and their eventual vote. Agreed?