I was thinking today that it's funny. I'm pretty much a complete pessimist in life, and yet (or because) I'm routing for Obama.

Re the generation war. I don't understand how someone who is invested in the battles of the sixties could support the Iraq War and the Bankruptcy Bill and No Child Left Behind. These are all very clearly right wing, Bush propeganda legislation--and Clinton didn't "need" to support any of them. So is her sixties cred when it matters?

The truth is that each generation has to, to some degree, reinvent the wheel--to make social change permanent. When I taught English Composition 101 I remember reading students' papers who wrote, "in the old days, people were racist, but today, people are no longer racist." (That was from an essay on Maya Angleou--a real student paper.) I remember trying to explain to them that although the idea of progress is great, that sometimes things like racism and sexism get hidden, just to pop back out again in another form. Not to say that we aren't making progress. But that, since I'm a pessimist, I notice the step backwards too. That's why I read Broadsheet & usually--Gloria Steinem.

One good thing I've learned every time I spend time with "kids" is that they are very immediate in their concerns. If I tell them, "when I was your age I went overseas and lived in Asia," they kind of roll their eyes. They're like, "that's cute." But it doesn't seem applicable if it isn't immediate. They're still learning a sense of history--frankly if you aren't doing it now--having done it once doesn't count for as much as you might like. It can seem kind of phony to them--pride in long since past accomplishments. Resting on your laurels doesn't fly.

This applies to this presidential race because in the minds of an older generation, the Clintons are so deeply tied to Civil Rights struggle, that anyone who "attacks" them for being racist (even though no one is--that I know of--attacking them of being racist--still this is the fear) must be a fool--a traitor--worse. Yet to a younger generation, without this sense of the Clinton's struggle--and I admit that although I voted for Clinton, I don't have a strong sense of their particular piece in the "history" of civil rights either except in the most general, abstract terms-- they take the Clintons on their own terms. They take Hillary Clinton's support of the Iraq war, they don't think about her protesting the Vietnam war. They think about her going along with Bush, and now--now that it's easy, standing up to loudly criticize him.

I don't want to take this too far. I remember reading an endorsement of Obama in the Seattle Times purely based on the idea of his being "fresh." I'm definitely not advocating this kind of generational chauvenism. However, a leader must also be in touch with what people are thinking/what they care about. I remember one key moment at which George Bush I in the 1992 election cycle was caught by a reporter admiring the scanning systems at grocery stores. Clearly he had never seen one before. His age and his economic bracket suddenly made him seem remote from the then "upstart" governor of Arkansas.

The question is not about whether one is or should be invested in the battles of the sixties, but how (based on one's understanding of those battles) one can be invested in the battles of today. We are living in the same timultuous era--technically we're still entering into the Age of Aquarius. Peak oil will be reached, our environment, the abandonment by government of the working poor--these are all nearing a crisis point. All of these things matter now. I've head Obama and Edwards speak about these current crisis in ways that ready me for action. When Clinton speaks, she speaks about what she will do for us. I haven't heard her ask me to pitch in--as both Obama and Edwards have. I haven't heard her ask what we can do for our country.

Horribly, the Republicans used the tragedy of 9-11 as their rallying point to roll back civil liberties, and to destroy the rights and needs of the poor and the middle class working Americans. This election, no matter who wins, people need to find a new rallying point to push toward the reforms. We need--not just want but need--reforms in health care, the environment, housing, and unionizing rights for McDonald's and Walmart workers. The time is ripe. I think the kids are right. We have our mandate. No one can afford to rest on laurels. There's too much work to be done. Everyone roll up your sleeves.