For all fans of Howe and Strauss, and their generational constellation theory, and its importance within the historical saeculum: Obama is NOT a Boomer, but a Post-Boomer, on the cusp of X (the infamous Thirteenth Generation). Incidentally, this is precisely why, he, and not McCain ( a GI) or Hillary (a Boomer) won the election. A great op-ed piece:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12222008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/baracks_post_boomer_presidency_145358.html
and : http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the-daily-dish/2008/06/obama-the-post.html
*As these links do not appear to be functioning, the gist of these pieces is that, although Obama straddles the Boomer and 13th/X Generations (b. 1961), in his thinking, sensibilities, and experience, he is definitely POST-boomer ( I was born in late 1959, just shy of '60, and consider myself POST as well.)
2 comments:
Strauss is dead, but Howe recently acknowledged the existence of Generation Jones in a long op-ed in the Washington Post. Obama is not a Boomer or Xer. As many nationally influential voices have repeatedly noted, he is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you'll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and see many top commentators from many top publications and networks (New York Times, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) are specifically referring to Obama, born in 1961, as part of Generation Jones.
Ah, thank you for this clarification! Yes, I had heard of the passing of William Strauss, and was saddened that he was not here to see the election of Obama.
Indeed, I HAD heard something of this "Generation Jones", but could not quite recall specifically where. Thank you so much for this additional information.
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