Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Why Obama?

It's going to come as no surprise to those who read this blog (and thus know me) that I am an Obama supporter. I am, in fact, fairly enthusiastic about him, which bodes well for him should he get the nomination. I have a fairly good track record when it comes to victory IF the DemocratIC (that's Democratic, NOT Democrat, you asshole conservatives) Party nominates the guy I liked in the primaries. I liked Carter, I liked Clinton and I like Obama. When the guy I like DOESN'T get the nod, the Dems lose.

So, victory likelihood aside, why Obama? Why not (Hillary) Clinton? I liked her husband, even if, on a personal note, he never got past being the Band Geek, and thus when some free pussy threw itself at him, he had no discernible self-control at a time when he KNEW (not suspected, KNEW) they really were out to get him? I liked him for the reasons he was a pretty decent President; when it came to policy he wasn't doctrinaire, he had a great campaign presence which was sorely needed in the post-Reagan era, his basic ideas about where the country needed to go were spot on. And the country delivered in spades. Longest peacetime expansion. Huge wealth engine. A rising tide that actually DID lift all the boats. That latter is, perhaps, the main reason the right hated him so. He did everything they said would be disastrous and he succeeded. I don't think they ever forgave him for not putting the economy in the tank like they said he would.

But I'm NOT supporting his wife. Why? Maybe she leaves me cold. I dunno. I do know this. After the campaign between Kerry and Bush in 2004 I realized something.

I'm sick and fucking TIRED of the baby boomers dragging our collective asses into their god damned psychodrama. EVERYTHING revolves around who went to Vietnam and who didn't. Who supported the war and who didn't. Who was a dirty fucking hippie and who was a drunken fucking fratboy.

I'm NOT a damned boomer, but thanks to these self-absorbed assholes and their constant need to fight and refight and re-refight the central conflict of the sixties (counter-culture vs. button-down) in all it's multifaceted glory, I get to watch, get sucked in, have to deal with their inability to MOVE THE FUCK ON. That's the change Obama offers. It's the fucking subtext of ALL his speeches, "Aren't you sick and tired of all this hyper-partisan warfare fucking it all up for the rest of us?"

Yes, yes, I am. I realize that the culture war won't end, ever, because every generation has its issues. Personally, if a cancer plague killed every single registered Republican painfully over the next month, I wouldn't shed a tear. But at least that's MY issue. Not some aging Aquarian's need to prove HE (or she) was RIGHT about; drugs, Vietnam, the need to "Burn Baby Burn", sell out and move up, or any of that shit. At least my issues are my issues, not the belted up, bitter baggage of someone who's old enough to have seen the premiere of "Hair".

THAT'S why Obama. Clinton, Bush, they're all just fucking boomers, trying to make us live in the world they want to make. Fuck that. This is the dawning of the Age Of Shut The Fuck Up And Finally Grow Old Gracefully, Or ELSE! Vote for someone who doesn't care what you did in '68. Since what I did in '68 was mainly refuse to take my afternoon nap, I've had it with you people.

4 comments:

Julie Artz said...

Amen brother! I'm throwing my lot in with Obama too (see http://chezartz.com/?p=167). If it comes down to Hillary or a Repub, I'll vote for Hillary, but I just can't shake the feeling that she's just as bought-and-paid-for-with-special-interest$$$ as the conservatives.

But just one question: Aren't you, in fact, a boomer? Technically if not in spirit? Don't shoot me ;)

Itinerant Pedant said...

That's an excellent question. No, I am not. Depending on whether you buy in to the Census Bureau's definition ('46 to '64) or demographers Strauss and Howe (authors of "Thirteenth Generation") who put it at '61 to '80, my birthyear (1965) is either the first non-Boomer year, or solidly early wave Gen-X.

For what it's worth, I buy into Strauss and Howe's definition because it feels more right. I have NOTHING in common with someone born '59 to '60, but really, culturally and attitudinally, someone born in '63 is pretty much like me.

I think the break probably goes something like this: If you were a teenager by 1972, you're definately a boomer. If you hit your teen years circa 1975 or so, definately Gen-X. In between is a gray area.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Obama actually does have the charisma that everyone seems to think he has, and I like him. I also disdain the inveterate snarkiness (to use a pedant word) of the boomers, and the Clinton's have reminded me of why I was so disappointed in them during the 90's. The last 7 years one of the first questions I've asked myself every morning is : "Why the fuck did i ever complain about Bill Clinton? Damnit I miss that horndog sellout!" Well, now I remember. Even as he moved ineluctably to the center, Bill somehow managed to seem divisive. even as his approval rating went up, he still managed to piss of even the people who agreed with him. I'd like to move on from the me generation to an us generation. I'd like a candidate with a new and not an old vision. I mean, let's not go crazy, if Hillary (or the collective candidate that we might call Hilton?) is chosen as the Dem candidate, I'll vote for her because I don't want my daughter to be part of the first generation of American women to have fewer rights than their mothers. But, I will not be inspired by the divisive, bickering, nasty-ass shit-kicking that goes on between Hilton and the republican (un)intelligentsia.

Renée said...

And, actually, Hair opened on Broadway in 1968, so technically you're old enough to have seen it. . . I'm just sayin'.