I have to admit, like many Americans, I have become intrigued with the shiny, charismatic rising political star, Senator Barack Obama. He seems wise, compassionate and like a breath of fresh air. And I was more than pleased when he announced his first steps towards presidential candidacy last week. So when I read John M. Broder’s New York Times piece, “Shushing the Baby Boomers” on Sunday, I found myself scratching my head for two reasons.
First, if what Mr. Broder asserts is true, that Mr. Obama believes the baby boomers’ “ideological battles of the 1960s” fruitlessly fuel today’s tedious political infighting on Capitol Hill, then Mr. Obama does indeed need to dance more gracefully in his quest for the presidency.
Arguably many boomers would respond that the big reason for partisan gridlock and continued squabbling has far more to do with the personal character and motivations of many of our elected officials, than with the fact that they and their ideals stem from the baby boomer cohort. The dramatic power shift that recently took place in both our congressional and senate elections occurred not because Americans are fed up with baby boomers or some of the important debates they started in the 1960s, but because Americans are fed up with the politicians’ inability to create bipartisan solutions. Call me crazy, but I would even venture to say the boomer votes helped facilitate this shift.
Second, the article is slightly misleading in that it seems to imply that Mr. Obama travels around making daily speeches loaded with anti-boomer rhetoric. Mr. Broder highlights one quote from Mr. Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope." This book excerpt coupled with his reference to Mr. Obama's desire for a "different kind of politics" do not fully persuade me that the Illinois senator is out to “shush” the boomers. Surely, this Harvard-educated gentleman realizes it may not be wise to “shush” 78 million potential voters. Moreover, he’s more likely to be using his post-boomer status and his fresh-perspective to transform his youth (and relative inexperience) into something that future voters will view more favorably. Mr. Obama, in selling Americans the importance of fresh generational thinking and a need for change, may simply be trying to subvert the idea floated by Joe Klein in Time magazine (May 2006) that Mr. Obama is “as green as Kermit the Frog.”
Furthermore, if you actually listen to the announcement Mr. Obama made regarding his presidential exploratory committee, you will find that while he does say in various ways that “we have to change our politics,” he doesn’t specifically reference the baby boomers or their 1960s debates as the real reasons behind our problems today. Instead, he endorses change. The truth is we do need to change our politics, and I think it’s a stretch to say he’s lambasting the baby boomers in observing this.
I imagine Mr. Obama might agree that it is simplistic to say that the enormous challenges we face today result from one generation’s contributions or lack thereof.
Amanda Sobanet