A GenX apology to the Baby Boom?

You got to be fucking kidding me?

But no, it is true. That is the form that this article about election night from salon.com takes, beginning thus:

Dear boomers: We’re sorry for rolling our eyes at you all these years. We apologize for scoffing at your earnestness, your lack of self-deprecation, your tendency to take yourselves a little too seriously. We can go ahead and admit now that we grew tired of hearing about the ’60s and the peace movement, as if you had to live through those times to understand anything at all. It’s true, we didn’t completely partake of your idealism and your notions about community. Frankly, it looked gray and saggy in your hands, these many decades later. Chanting “What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!” at that rally against the Iraq war made us feel self-conscious in spite of ourselves. We felt like clichés. We wondered why someone couldn’t come up with a newer, catchier, pro-peace slogan over the course of 40 years of protests. We knew we shouldn’t care that some of you were wearing socks with sandals and smelled like you’d been on the bus with Wavy Gravy for the last three decades, but we cared anyway. We couldn’t help it. It’s just who we are

Read full article here.

I have to say that I’m not so sure that I am ready to apologize for rolling my eyes, but then that’s just the kind of little prick that I am. And it’s really not the point. The point is that the tone of this piece I think captures what is perhaps the epitome of the GenX Journey (yes, I know. that is a real eye-rolling phrase, but I can’t help it) from cynicism to idealism, which of course is symbolized in the path of Barack Obama, as detailed in his autobiography for anyone who cares to read it, resulting in his rise to the most powerful position in the country if not the world.

But when we watched Barack Obama’s victory speech on Tuesday night, we looked into the eyes of a real leader, and decades of cynicism about politics and grass-roots movements and community melted away in a single moment. We heard the voice of a man who can inspire with his words, who’s unashamed of his own intelligence, who’s willing to treat the citizens of this country like smart, capable people, worthy of respect. For the first time in some of our lifetimes, we believed.

And I got to say, it’s a little scary, even while it is astoundingly joyful at the same time. To believe, I mean. Multiple times a day I will just stop and realize again what has happened and my chest swells and my eyes tear up, and I think, no, this can’t be real, I’m dreaming, but of course I am not. I have to remind myself to dig in, it wasn’t a dream, Barack Obama really is the the 44th President of the United State of America, or at least he will be, officially, on Jan 20th.

I’m reminded of the Christian Slater line in the Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie, when he launches Costner and Morgan Freeman over the wall on the giant catapult, amazed that it actually works, he says: “Fuck me, he cleared it!

.

Who the hell is Generation O?

Well, according to an article in the New York Times this past Sunday:

GENERATION O is that college kid at the White House gate early Wednesday morning, lifting his shirt to reveal “Obama” painted in red on his chest.

Or that stylized Obama T-shirt that makes irony look old, the “Obama Girl” on YouTube, or the thousands of notes on Barack Obama’s Facebook page: “U are the best!!!” “yeah, buddy.”

And, of course, Generation O is the president-elect himself.

Read full article here.

One wonders if Generation 0 is going to be the new nomenclature for what is commonly knowns as the Millennial Generation or Generation Y, those between the ages of 19-29. Well, whatever you call them it is true that they came up big for Obama on election night.

Mr. Obama’s victory was greatly helped by his young allies. More 18- to 29-year-olds went to the polls this year than in any election since 1972 — between 21.6 million and 23.9 million, up from about 19.4 million in 2004, according to preliminary estimates from the Center for Information and Research of Civic Learning and Engagement. And 66 percent voted for Mr. Obama, according to exit polls by Edison/Mitofsky.

They showed the fuck up! Which is more than can said for Generation X over the years. And for that I know I am grateful. And they should be proud. For making Barack Obama the first Generation X President in addition to the first black President. And I know, I know, there are those out there that will refuse to accept that Obama is a GenXer, but he is. He is not a Boomer; he’s too young, even if he was born within your predefined year parameters. And he is not Generation Jones, because, well, the designation of Generation Jones is lame. Ask 10 random people on the street what Generation Jones is, and I’d be surprised if even on can tell you. And even the one that maybe can won’t get it. So it’s a non-entity. Give it up.

In any case, in the grand scheme of things that Obama is Generation X — and he is — is fairly minor. If not for the Times article, I doubt I would have blogged about it at all. But it is true. And as Obama transitions into the White House and begins to govern the evidence that he is Generation X will only grow.

But back to the Millennials that helped get him there. They sure impress the hell out of me. I went into the local Obama office here in B’ham. It was mostly Millennials, young women still wearing braces and young guys still fighting acne. They tried to get me pitch in, to help out, to fight along side them. But in typical GenX fashion I simply would not join. I tried to do my thing on the fringes, with this pathetic little blog, by sending emails to people I know, by posting messages on Facebook and MySpace, by talking to family and friends and co-workers where and when I could. I was cool with that. But joining a massive organization. Sorry, ain’t going to happen. So thank God for the Millennials or Gen Y or Gen O or whatever brand they end up being saddled with. Who knows? Does it matter?

Anyhoo…

Last week I was listening to Chris Mathews bloviate on Hardball, saying how Obama was this generations Jack Kennedy. I thought, yeah, that’s kind of true. And I thought that was cool, for Millennials, while at the same time feeling a little bitter sweet because GenX got Bill Clinton, a gifted politician to be sure and an amazing mind for all sorts of things but in some ways a serious disappointment. You know of what I speak. He disappointed even more during the Primary, which was cool. It just helped solidify my support for Obama. And anyway, being disappointed is part of life, right.

But like some others, I wonder how Millennials are likely to react to disappointment when it comes. And it will come. Obama is not flawless, he does not walk on water. Mistakes will be made. There will be failures. He knows that. He’s too smart not to. But do these young supporters know that? Do they really?

…such a sweeping success could also breed trouble. “The risk is they vote for the first time, and then there’s this incredible long-shot win — ‘Gee this is easy,’ ” said Kurt Andersen, a founder of Spy and former editor of New York Magazine. There is also “a risk of this generation conflating our iPhones with the substantive policy progress that the iPhones and laptops enable.”

Inevitably, he said, “growing up is all about disappointment and things not going well — so that is a natural next step.”

The pain of dashed hopes, if it comes, could be eased by this generation’s news media diet, which has made them fantastically informed and skeptical. Or it could be worsened by the psychology of how they were raised and came of age.

Ronald Alsop, author of “The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace,” said that because today’s young people have been trained to trust teams and systems — they love checklists — they often struggle when things do not go according to plan.

And with the direction the economy is headed, I’m going to go ahead and guess that it is likely that many a Millennial is going to find his/her best laid plans thwarted. GenXer know how that feels. We know it sucks. But we also know it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. Good things can and do happen, despite shitty circumstance beyond your control. Sometimes even great things. Thing like electing the first POTUS!

The pointless persistence of lawn signs

I realize that the election isn’t even a week old but I’m curious as to why some people insist on keeping up their political lawn signs. I mean, absent the fact that you’re just too lazy to remove them, what’s the point?

I suppose for Obama supporters it is a way to celebrate their victory. But at what point does it just seem like gloating?

For McCain supporters it would seem to be a stubborn unwillingness to accept the inevitable, which is understandable, and ultimately kind of sad.

As for me, I took my Obama signs down the nigh to th election, once it started to get dark, even before the polls officially closed. I wanted to be able to hold onto them. I feared that should Obama win (remember, at the time, we still didn’t know yet) disgruntled McCain supporters might try to swipe them. They did it before, so…

I’ve stashed my Obama signs in my garage. Maybe they’ll be worth something some day. Who knows.

Where’s my New Yorker with the fist bump cover?

I’m bummed after discovering this weekend that my copy of of The New Yorker magazine with the satirical comic of Barack and Michille Obama doing a fist bump in the Oval Office is nowhere to be found. Not easily anyway. Could be that I stored it away somewhere and just can’t recall where but more likely I tossed it accidentally. I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find it.

I blogged about this issue of The New Yorker when I did not receive my copy in the mail. I was pissed because I thought that The New Yorker, because of the controversy that swelled up around the cover, had decided not to mail out these copies. It turned out that I’d jumped the gun because it showed up in my mailbox the very next day, which I blogged about as well, joking that I’d intimidated The New Yorker into sending me the issue with my scathing blog post read by almost a dozen people at most. Then, to my surprised, it turned out that The New Yorker really had read my blog and contacted Colleen to let them know they could send out a copy. That wasn’t necessary of course. But Colleen did get an extra copy from someone that she worked with. But I can’t find that one either.

I guess I was hoping to hold onto it, figuring it would be a interesting keepsake should Obama win, which of course he has, but alas that is not to be. Unless we find it later. We’ll see.

Well, I still have my Obama bracelet, which I am still wearing and plant to continue wearing. For how long? Who knows? Also, I have two Obama sign, the ones that replaced the first two that were stolen. And, I have a few stickers. Oh yeah, I also have a coffee mug.

Of course, these things won’t be worth in the near future. But some day…

More projections as west coast state polls close

From the way the MSNBC hosts are talking, it seems they’re ready to call the presidency for Barack!

Chris Mathews is in rare form, all but calling it for Obama as he rambles on in a way that he no doubt believe is beautiful eloquent.

Mathews is right about one thing, though. Obama won a game of hardball against The Clintons. That is something. In other words, this race was not handed to him. He fucking earned it, and then some.

States called for Obama:

California

Washington

Oregon

And with that he reaches 284 and is projected to win the Presidency of the United States of America!

States called for McCain:

McCain takes West Virginia

CNN projects McCain will take West Virginia.

That doesn’t really surprise me. I was surprised some weeks back when there was buzz that Obama was making ground there. Having relatives there, and knowing something about the state, I had a hard time believing that it would vote for a black candidate. It is a Democratic state in many respects, though; projections indicate that W.Va will retain two Dem Senators.

MSNBC electoral college projections:

Obama: 200

McCain:85

CNN projects:

Obama: 194

McCain:69

Which red state will flip first?

Gregory on MSNBC is grilling David Axelrod, chief campaign strategist for Obama, on which red state he believe will flip first. So far the states that have been were called for the candidates that they were pretty much expected to go to.

Pennsylvania was a battle ground state, certainly, but Obama has been leading there for some time.

Some thought that McCain might be able to eek out a win in New Hampshire, because he’s been popular there in the past. But no dice this time. Sorry Johnny boy!

I’m going to go with Virginia as the first red state to flip to blue. Could be North Carolina. Could be neither since turn out was so high there. I heard a projection that Virginia had an 80% turnout. And NC could reach 75%. That is amazing! And encouraging. But such high turnout will mean it will take longer to tally votes, so…

Dole Loses NC Senate Seat and other projections

MSNBC projects Elizabeth Dole (R) losing her Senate Seat in NC. Yes!

Current electoral college projections are:

Obama: 103

McCain: 58

Georgia was just projected for Mcain, as was Alabama.

It also appears that John Sununu is going to lose his Senate seat in New Hampshire.

Florida is still too close to call but Barack seems to be leading there.

But an important point was made by Chuck Todd, the electoral college guy for MSNBC. Nothing is really certain until Obama actually flips one of these red states, which right now he hasn’t.

Final poll projects give McCain little chance of a victory.

It’s Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, Election Day in America. The last polls have straggled in, and show little sign of mercy for John McCain. Barack Obama appears poised for a decisive electoral victory.

Read more here.

So why do I still feel the press of inevitable disappoinment on my shoulders?

Vote flipping in West Virginia

Also on Diane Rehm the guest commentor report incidents of voter flipping in West Virginia. Vote flipping, as far as I understand it, involved people accidentally voting for the other candidate. Apparently this can happen with touch screen machines, especially if you happen to have larg fingers or if your hands are shaky.