The New Power Generation

I'm going to be upfront -- my candidate in the upcoming Democratic presidential caucus is Barack Obama. I figure -- why beat around the bush? I believe Obama represents the kind of potential vision and direction this country needs to move in if we are going to survive as a nation in the 21st Century.

If you haven't read it, check out Andrew Sullivan's convincing piece about Obama in the December Atlantic magazine. Sullivan details, in persuasive fashion, how Obama offers the possibility of moving beyond the divisive politics and arguments of the past 40+ years. One of his main points -- with which I agree -- is that Obama represents a break from the Baby Boomer dynamics that have been front and center. As a Gen X'er, I find this refreshing and hopeful. As someone who grew up in the wake of the Boomers -- who is old enough to understand some of the references, but young enough to feel left out of the conversation -- part of what has been so confusing and frustrating has been the sense that someone else's grievances, arguments, ambitions and desires define your own. Many of my friends wished we could have been born 20 years earlier because the folks from that era looked like they had the fun and dominated the cultural conversation. I was born the year Aretha Franklin's "Respect" was released, and yet I danced to the song and yearned for the cultural connection it represented even though I had no memory of it. It's like wandering around someone else's house, knowing their furniture and yearning for the comforting feeling of being safe in their living room.

The central problem is one of ownership -- the memory of the 60's, of Vietnam, of the civil rights struggle, of the ERA and rise of feminism aren't my own -- they are culturally received by me and others who were born in their wake. They don't exist in my memory -- they are memories owned by people 10, 15 or 20 years older than me. I didn't march in Selma, protest at Columbia or burn my draft card because I was either not on earth or in diapers.

It isn't that Obama has magical powers to heal all prior conflicts and make all things well -- it's that he isn't burdened by and beholden to the cultural context that has shaped this country since the 60's. If "the personal is political" was the lefty byword of the Boomer era, then maybe we need to not take things so personally. Or, rather, to recognize that this is not where the conversation ends, even if it starts there. I sense in Obama the possibility of opening up the governing process beyond the dualistic mode we have been locked into since there were draftees and draft dodgers. Maybe the choices we face aren't so clear. Maybe we shouldn't be so sure of the rightness of who we are and what we believe. Maybe a little amibiguity makes some sense because it makes us humble and willing to ask questions and learn more.

As a Gen X'er, you learn that you live betwixt and between -- lots of grownups ahead of you and lots of young kids right behind. Perhaps, even if he isn't an actual Gen X'er demographically, Obama represents a willingness of acknowledge this "between"-ness. And, to me, that counts for a lot more than the "35 years of experience" Clinton lays claim to in her campaign.

Back in the Saddle Again

Greetings, friends. I have been on hiatus from blogging, but with the arrival of the political season for 2008, I thought it was time for me to start opening my (figurative) big mouth and begin opining on the events of the day. My plan is to start blogging regularly again - about state/local and national politics, as well as other issues. Since my last post in March 2007, I've moved across the river, as they say here in the Twin Cities, to our state's Capital City, St. Paul. Life in the "other" city moves at a somewhat different pace, but, for all the vaunted differences locals allege, the two towns are really WAY more alike than different.

Check back in the next day or so -- I have A LOT to say about the state of the presidential campaign. And with a forecast high on Saturday of -2 degrees F, I will be inside the house for some significant amount of time this weekend.

Stay warm!