Update: Wow! I just discovered a national article that cover this same concept. Apparently those black helicopters I keep hearing might be real after all!
I wrote here about the potential loss of an entire generation of Democratic voters. I postulated at the time, that the cause would be Hillary “stealing” the Democratic nomination and thereby crushing the hopeful acolytes of Barack Obama. By crushing their hope I argued that Hillary would drive the 30 and under crowd out of the ‘08 election.
Prescience isn’t always 20/20!
10 days later and Barack Obama creates an environment that could cause Generation Y to fore-go politics all together.
Why? Just look at who these people are.
Generation Y is generally described as those born between 1977 and 1996. Included in this group are today’s 18 to 30 year olds, who are a core contingent of Obama’s enthusiasm band. This group is the progeny of the Baby Boomers. In particular those who came of age during the ’60s. This in itself gives insight to Generation Y as they were raised by the anti establishment flower power folks. Just think what some of the dinner conversations would have been!
In this great article from Fortune they talk about the implications of Generation Y in the work place and characteristics of the group in general. In the article “Y” are described as “needy” and “entitled.” They are described as having no loyalties except to themselves and what what they find interesting. They are further documented as being short term focused, not interested in the long haul. Finally, the article states that they need constant cheerleading to proceed on any task.
Along comes Obama to talk to Generation Y. Need and entitlement? Oh my gosh! Is there anything that Obama hasn’t promised to some group who thought that they were shorted? Cheerleading? You’ve got to be kidding right? Obama is in the hall of fame for cheerleading. Obama had this group eating out of his hand because he gave them exactly what their psychological make up demanded.
Now the problem. Generation Y is all about “what feels good” which was perfect because Obama is all about “what feels good.” What happens now that Obama doesn’t feel so good? What happens to Generation Y when instead of seeing someone who although older, talked, looked and felt a lot like them? Remember, according to Fortune, Generation Y has no loyalties, worries only about today and needs constant cheerleading. I think the bubble could burst so hard for this group that they may well permanently imprint the distrust for all politicians that came from their parent’s generation. As a result, they may well be a “Lost Generation” to the Democrats for elections to come.
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Obama hasn’t created a Lost Generation; Obama is part of a Lost Generation between the Boomers and Xers.
There is a growing consensus in the media, and among experts, that Obama is not a Boomer, nor an Xer, but instead is a member of Generation Jones (born 1954-1965, the heretofore lost generation between the Boomers and Xers).
Just in the last month or so, several top media outlets, including The New York Times, Newsweek Magazine, and NBC, have all made the argument that Obama is specifically part of Generation Jones. I also heard a panel of generations experts recently on a national radio show discussing this specific issue, and four of the five experts conlcuded that Obama is, in fact, a GenerationJoneser…that his bio and political worldview closely match the GenJones archetype.
Interesting Electionwatcher. I’m a member of GenJones but I had never heard of it before this. Looking into it, the group seems to be defined by unfulfilled expectations. I guess that’s probably true of Obama and his ilk but it doesn’t come close to describing the folks I know from that time frame. Most of those folks are pretty solid acheivers (and I don’t mean just $). In many ways I see these folks as having accomplished more (setting WWII aside) than thier parent’s generation.
At any rate, my point wasn’t that O was a Y generation, rather that he created a construct where the Y’s felt at home…maybe the unfulfilled expectations along with “someone’s always keeping them down” are the two things O and the Y’s do have in common.
Not only is Obama constantly professing need and entitlement, which are indeed so attractive to millennials, but this vague message of hope gets me every time.
I read this article written by this high school student recently (Posted here wwww.millennialpointofview.com) which basically proves what I have suspected of many teens and twenty-somethings. Voting for Obama because he is seen as “cool” and because he is giving them a vague sense of “hope!!”