The 'Obama generation?'

One persistently interesting pastime for educators, especially those with a taste for democratic politics, is reading the political culture of the next generation. The 60s generation resisted the conscription of their friends into an unjust war. They were the generation of community, authenticity and freedom.

Their commitment to the last helps explain why many of them gave up the counter-culture for the crasser pursuit of money -- this transition made possible by the belief that money frees one. Those who fell into this trap have difficulty listening to the rock music of their generation, as it reminds them how far they have moved away from what they once thought was most important. And some of them seek passage back to their generational roots as a consequence, as a way of treating their depression, malaise, and feelings of emptiness.

The ‘me generation’ that followed arguably took the mistakes of the boomers and did them one better. Although, of course, not true of all, they were the generation for whom there were lots of rights and no responsibilities, where serving one’s self was always justified because there were thought to be no truths or values worth serving instead. The me generation had trouble making lasting commitments.

They took the latent narcissism of the boomer generation and made a shrine of it. Their passion for material goods and putatively sexy careers was astounding. And even though they were not as numerous as boomers, their willingness to spend along side many of them—as if the world was about to end and as if the poverty in the rest of the world just didn’t count—kept the economies of North America and Europe singing for years.

Since then, of course, there have been diverse sub-generational cadres: the information age crew; the neo-Barbarian crew, resisting the advances of women; the greens; the neo-preppies; the post-modern Neitzcheans (who take the me generation to be wimps in their relative unwillingness to use power to conquer, to undo the conventions of others); the anti-globalizing anarchists; the born-again; the human rights champions; the bad boys and the bad girls; and still others who identified with the values of the prior me or boomer generations.

The previous decade produced a diversity that is as easily characterized by division and disdain as by any common values. All of these groups listened to their music with headphones, rocking to quite different beats, even when in a room together.

Now this is admittedly a cranky read of these generations. But the point here is that since the me generation, there hasn’t really been a homogeneous, generational, regemic definition that had the potential of changing national political values.

Generational divisions don’t work like region, gender or income, dividing us along party lines. More important is the way they capture the ethos of young leadership. Party preference isn’t as much altered by generational political culture as is the political imagination, the sense of self and of value, and the terms of commitment of those who lead political movements and parties.

This is partly why the candidacy of Barak Obama is interesting. Not only does his apparent widespread appeal amongst the young tell us something about the new generation, but it may signal a generational turning point. Young people these days are hesitant to define themselves generationaly, and indeed there remain important differences between them. Still, we may be able to read something of them by reference to the qualities and virtues of those whom they praise and whom they are prepared to follow.

What is it about Obama, then, that many young people find attractive, that is engaging them passionately in the politics of the day, in a country so democratically scarred?

A working list might include: his authenticity; his comfort in his own body; his aloofness from the rhetoric and ideological intensity of the old left, of feminism, and of the greens; his pragmatism; his charm; the fact that he isn’t bossy, power trippy, or patronizing, that he treats folks as having considerable intelligence and a pride in their agency; his respect and comfort with our differences, yet his view that our common humanity is more important; and his alertness to the condition of those who are marginalized or dominated. Barak isn’t likely this perfect -- who is? -- but if this is a reflection of the new generational ethos, bring it on.