When I think of Spring Break, suntans, piña coladas and MTV pop into my mind. However, this year was a little bit different, and not because Mexico is swarming with kidnappers and armed drug-dealers. I spent my spring break at home in Orange County, California — a place that used to look a lot like Spring Break year round, or that was the perception anyway. Unfortunately, the OC has not one, but several “reality” TV shows that seek to expose the so-called fabulous, carefree lives spent day in and day out in the surf and the sun. When I came home last week though, something felt different.

It turns out that my utopian paradise has been hit particularly hard by the economic crisis — so hard that President Obama came to town last week to speak to local residents about the stimulus plan and how it’s going to work its way to Southern California. I was caught off guard when I first heard the news. I thought to myself, “Obama, in Orange County?” We’re talking about the place that Ronald Reagan once described as, “Where all the good Republicans go to die.” Why would he come here of all places?

Principally, Orange County is the heart of the nation’s subprime mortgage meltdown. In fact, Orange County based New Century Financial was one of the major originators of subprime mortgages, and its failure in 2007 was a cannery in the coal-mine for the subsequent broader based housing crisis of which we are now facing the consequences.

Thus, the Southern California bubble of exponentially growing new wealth has officially popped, leaving many of the McMansions you see on TV empty as a result of foreclosure. Moreover, the stark realities of homelessness and poverty that have long been present amidst the glamorous lives of Orange County’s elite are spreading like wildfire to families that only one year ago would consider themselves working, middle-class Americans. In an attempt to minimize the stigma associated with homelessness, motels are becoming the new halfway house for evicted Orange County families. Particularly in Costa Mesa — the city in which Obama’s “town-hall meeting” was held last Wednesday — more and more motel families are hiding out, ashamed and in much need of aid.

Additionally, Obama’s overwhelming need for legitimacy and support for his bailout plan has sent him on a tour of town-hall meetings and a guest-star appearance on Jay Leno. Despite Obama’s public condemnation of the insurance conglomerate AIG for its “recklessness and greed,” many Americans remain infuriated and fundamentally insulted by what they deem the immoral use of their much-needed tax dollars. For many, the AIG controversy has put them over the edge, pushing their frustration with our current economic system — both towards those who contributed to its downfall as well as the politicians and policy makers seeking to fix it — to the point of outrage and disgust. According to a CBS News poll conducted earlier this month, only 36 percent of Americans approve of the government giving away money to banks and financial institutions as a way of trying to fix the nation’s economy. However, Obama insists that while bailing out banks and instituting an unprecedented stimulus plan may not be ideal, there is no alternative if we want to attempt to dig ourselves out of this continually deepening economic pit. Though the numbers may not be pretty, saving our major financial institutions via large-scale federal aid is fundamental to ensuring the economic livelihood for average Americans. For this reason, Thomas Friedman, in his recent New York Times column, “Obama’s Real Test,” warns Americans to “swallow hard” in the face of Obama’s costly recovery plan due shortly. Furthermore, he states that, “In this climate of anger it will take every bit of political capital in Barack Obama’s piggy bank — as well as Michelle’s, Sasha’s and Malia’s — to sell [the bank bailout plan] to Congress and the public.”

Thus, Obama’s trip to Orange County signifies an attempt to alleviate some of the anguished vibes hindering the nation’s recovery. But still, why trek to a place where in 2004, George Bush beat John Kerry by 220,000 votes? It turns out that Orange County amongst other traditionally conservative regions is changing, and changing fast. Only four years after the Republican landslide in Orange County, 520,000 registered democrats surfaced. Though Orange County remained a red bubble in the the blue state of California this past November, McCain only beat Obama by a mere 29,000 votes, signifying a drastic democratic party increase in only four years.

The rapidly changing demographics and socioeconomic realities of Orange County is emblematic of a nation-wide trend. On election night, I stared awestruck, eyes glued to the TV screen as historically red states flashed blue before my eyes. This is not to say that a liberalizing revolution is sweeping the nation. Rather, it seems that personalized circumstances — most notably the poor economic state — and the realities facing Americans in the 2008-2009 world seem to outweigh ideology for many. When I heard complaints that Orange County residents were screaming, “I love you, Obama!” like 13-year-old heartthrobs at a Justin Timberlake concert, I thought there could only be two explanations: hope or desperation. I’m banking on the former.