Obama, the ONLY Gen X President???

Email Print posted by sunsawed 06/19/2008 04:50:42 AM EST

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Obama is the Only chance for a Gen X President.

An old article in the Atlantic Monthly showed how Presidents skipped a generation, straight from the "Greatest Generation" to the "Baby Boomers."  The in-between "Lost Generation" candidates, Mondale, Dukakis, Dole and now their last HOPE, John McCain went down in FLAMES to DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS.

As the 90s are OVER, Gen Xers become more and more IRRELEVANT.  YEAH! The MILLENIALS, children of the Baby Boomers, and FARK us Gen Xers!

As chronic CYNICS, we Gen Xers are LOATHE to endorse any politician.  But I think a lot of us were LATE CONVERTS to Obama.  The Millenials were the TRUE BELIEVERS to Obama, but it was Gen Xers who DECIDED the Democratic Nominee.

HILLARY kind of represents EVERYTHING WE LOATHE about the Baby Boomers.  A Sell-Out.  A Hypocrite.  

Which is everything we believe about Baby Boomers.  So idealistic in the 60s.  Then snorting cocaine off Mick Jagger's d*ck in the 70s in Studio 54  and becoming mercenary Capitalists in the 80s.

We Gen Xers RESPECT Boomers, like Obama who KEEP it OLD SCHOOL!  Like NEIL YOUNG.  KEEP ON ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD!!!
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Obama, the ONLY Gen X President??? | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)
Not a GenXer (none / 0)
Barack will be a great president, but by being born in 1961, he is still a baby boomer, sorry to say.

by chefdan on 06/19/2008 07:52:30 AM EST

Unclear but I have to disagree (none / 0)

1961 seems to be Generation X.  Not that there are any hard and fast rules but most sources say Gen Xers start in 1960.

Here is the guy I like most when it comes to generations. 

The nail in the coffin is Douglas Copeland, the guy who wrote the novel Generation X, was born in 1961.  So if 1961 is not Gen X, nothing is. 

by ProfRich on 06/19/2008 12:34:43 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Don't nail her if she's in the coffin (none / 1)

McCain is also part of Generation X (where X is a Roman numeral, I mean).

by OneHitKill on 06/19/2008 01:16:23 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Nice one. (none / 0)

by ProfRich on 06/19/2008 02:22:57 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Most people favor X for Obama (none / 0)
but you're right its unclear because he's right on the border. He was too young to participate in the defining events of the boomer generation, the sexual revolution, the vn war, tuning in and dropping out, like snorting coke and playing hooky from the TANG, and all the cultural fallout. I think that's the most important defining experience that makes a boomer, and he doesn't have it.

by hazmat on 06/19/2008 02:02:00 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Think about it this way (none / 0)

By the time Obama got to his "formative years" of high school (1975-1979) punk had directly assaulted baby boomer hippie culture, Watergate had shattered our naive faith that everything was going to get better and the economy had tanked.  Vietnam was lost and the Beatles were on the oldies station.  Star Wars came out and Easy Rider was on the Late Late Late movie.

I  just have a hard time associating someone in that age range with anything I consider iconic to the baby boom. 

by ProfRich on 06/19/2008 02:34:06 PM EST

[ Parent ]
sorta disagree (none / 0)

You assimilate a lot before high school.  I grew up with The Beatles and the original Star Trek (isn't that the defining parameter?), the women's lib movement, Vietnam, etc.  Perhaps having older siblings made a difference (brother with a draft number, siblings' friends dying in the war), but still, I feel I have much more in common with the boomers than the Xers. 

But yeah, stupid to argue something like this ;)  I'm just a border boomer.

by desertpear on 06/19/2008 03:57:45 PM EST

[ Parent ]
original star trek (none / 0)
I didn't grow up with the beatlemania, although I did grow up with the music (not while they were together anyway), but star trek didn't get big until it went into syndication, and it remained huge through the early eighties. Heck I watched the Andy Griffith show and Leave it to beaver as a kid, because that's what was running. So I don't see these as strictly boomer things. I think its  the experiences of the 60's that carry a lot more weight for a college-age youth than a 10 year old that make a boomer. But what do I know? I was born in '74. Do you feel you're more X or more Boomer?

by hazmat on 06/19/2008 05:54:31 PM EST

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who knows? (none / 0)
Can I blame my generational confusion on being born in a transition period?  Is there some threshold amount of times you need to have dropped acid before you can be called a boomer?  I think of myself as a child of the 60s, but mostly because of the influence of my siblings, who were about 10 years older than me.

by desertpear on 06/19/2008 07:09:29 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I was born in 1961 (none / 0)
And have always understood that to be about the tail end of the baby boom.  But, I think it is awesome that Obama is so Young!!  <lol>

by desertpear on 06/19/2008 01:29:22 PM EST

You Guys seem to be missing MY POINT!!! (none / 0)

By birth and demographics, Obama is a tail-end Boomer. OF COOOOURSE!!!

But his MESSAGE seems to be taylor-made to Gen Xers.  Transcending the post-Vietnam politics.

So much HAY is made about Swing Voters.  "Soccer Moms," "Angru White Males," "Security Moms."  But what about Gen Xers??? 

I think Obama won the nomination by catering his message to Gen Xers, natural CYNICS, like ME and CENK. 

We've always had our eyes on the Boomers, expected them to take over.  What we HATE is HYPOCRICY.  You can do whatever you want, but at least you should be CONSISTENT.

We liked BILL, because, even though he was LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH, corrupt, and giving stuff up to the Republicans Left and Right, at least he did TRANSPARENTLY SO.

Hillary FAILED with us because she was pretending to be principled, while doing not only what Bill did, but MORE for no apparent reason.

Obama succeeds with Gen Xers because even though his positions may seem naïve or somthing he'll eventually retract, he actually BELIEVES THEM.  Consistency.  He's the RIGHT legacy of the Baby Boom.  Hillary was the WRONG one.

I went to college in the 80s.  I got to dee the NEO-CONS in their infancy.  The Cons in my college were complaining, "Reagan is so COOOL!  But he would not go FAR ENOUGH!!!'

In hind sight, Reagan took the Conservative Movement EXACTLY where it needed to go.  He knew WHEN to say WHEN.  He compromised with the Liberal Democrats in Congress, who were, admittedly OFF THE DEEP END and did enough to bring down Carter as the Cons did from the other end in '80.

Then, in 2002, the Cons did EXACTLY the same thing that the over-the-top Liberal Democrats wanted in 1976.  They became IDEOLOGUES, utterly IMPRACTICAL. 

by sunsawed on 06/20/2008 01:52:23 AM EST

Jumping the shark (none / 0)

I think the cons went off the deep end around 1995 or 1996 when they kept shutting down the government and tried to impeach a guy who as popular on his worst day as Reagan was on his best (thats true!).  They were tempered somewhat by having a very strong (if centrist) president from 1995-2000. 

In 2001 all hell broke loose. Let's not forget the insane tax cuts, end of the inheritance tax, assault on social security, warantless wiretapping, invasion of Iraq, etc. were all in the works at the White House before 9/11.

And I still contend Obama is one of the first Gen X-ers. 

by ProfRich on 06/20/2008 02:04:31 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Obama, the ONLY Gen X President??? | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)
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