Posted on 02/17/2008 3:52:52 PM PST by politico 2006
AS Bill Clinton was the first baby boomer president, Barack Obama could be the first Generation X president. Or, depending on how you figure it, Mr. Obama, born in 1961, could be the third boomer in chief, following Presidents Clinton and Bush. In theory, the candidate Obama belongs in the boom, defined by the Census Bureau as births during the years 1946 to 1964… The generation-spotter Jonathan Pontell, on the other hand, argues the boom began in 1942 and ended in 1953. He places Mr. Obama in “Generation Jones,” a term Mr. Pontell coined to characterize those born during the years 1954 to 1965, who, according to his polling, largely do not identify either as boomers or Xers… Generations have a natural fluidity — it can be hard to say where one group ends and the next begins… This time, it’s not personal: it’s generational. The Republican front-runner, John McCain, ran a commercial with images of dancing flower children to mock the boomer Hillary Rodham Clinton for backing a Woodstock Museum grant. Mr. Obama, usually a uniter, divides himself from his divisive generational cohort in his book “The Audacity of Hope”: “In the back and forth between Clinton and Gingrich, and in the elections of 2000 and 2004,” he writes, “I sometimes felt as if I were watching the psychodrama of the baby boom generation — a tale rooted in old grudges and revenge plots hatched on a handful of college campuses long ago.” While it’s clear boomers are under siege, it’s less clear who they are. The baby boom itself, a quantifiable event that certainly produced Mrs. Clinton in 1947, nevertheless has controversial boundaries…
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Well, he obviously doesn't feel like he's a Boomer, given all the times he has explicitly indicated that he's not a Boomer. That leaves Generation X and Generation Jones. It seems obvious to me that Obama is not an X'er. His personality and political stances don't seem X at all. For example, he's way too idealistic/optimistic/hopeful to match the quintissential X'er cynicism (X'ers typically would not write books with the word "Hope" in the title). Nor does his personal story and bio fit GenX (he does not stike me as a tattooed/multiple-pierced sort of guy).
I heard an interesting radio show segment a few days ago in which several generations experts were looking at this specific question, and four of the five experts concluded that Obama is of GenJones, not GenX. That seems right to me as well. I was born in 1962, and have a good feel for this generational stuff. Pretty much all the friends of mine who are around my age, and whom I've discussed this, feel like we are not GenX'ers. We much more strongly relate to the generation between the Boomers and X'ers (ie. Generation Jones). When I was listening to that radio show, the experts made what I thought was a compelling case for Obama being a Joneser. Obama's political orientation and positions fit GenJones, as does his bio. Between the idealism of the Boomers and the cynicism of the X'ers, is Obama--a classic GenJones practical idealist, a compromiser who is in a unique postion to unite the country, including the too-often-fueding Boomers and X'ers.
Newsweek had a fascinating column last week in which the writer (Jonathan Alter)made a very strong argument for exactly this--that Obama is part of Generation Jones, not the Baby Boom nor GenX.
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If you know that the first video that aired on MTV was the Buggles' “Video Killed the Radio Star,” you may be a member of Generation Jones. What else do you remember?
QUESTIONS:
1. The classic mall of Jonesers 1980s culture — first made famous as the epicenter of “Valley Girls,” then featured in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High — shut down in 1999. What was its name?
2. The Big Three of our mid-1980's music culture were all born in 1958. Name them.
3. One song overwhelmingly ended the most high school dances across America in the 70's. Name that tune.
4. What did Joneser Brooke Shields have between her and her Calvins?
5. Yeah, Jonesers were the “Sweathogs” of Welcome Back Kotter. How many do you remember?
6. What rumor about Mikey (from Life cereal adds) fizzed among Jonesers in the 1970s?
7. We were the first generation of kids with video games. What was the beloved original?
8. A Joneser played the title role in the made-for-TV movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble? Who was he?
9. Three movies with ensemble generational casts were released at the same time in the mid-1980s. The Big Chill for Boomers, The Breakfast Club for Xers. Which one for Jonesers?
10. Which actress in what movie inspired the “torn sweatshirt/bare shoulder/leg warmer” look among Jonesers in the 1980s?
ANSWERS:
1. The Galleria.
2. Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince.
3. “Stairway to Heaven.”
4. “Nothing”
5. Barbarino, Epstein, Boom-Boom, Horshack.
6. He supposedly died from drinking soda with Pop Rocks.
7. Pong.
8. John Travolta.
9. St. Elmo's Fire
10. Jennifer Beals, Flashdance.
I was born in 1961...and there’s no freakin’ way I’m a boomer!
So was I, but I've never heard of "Generation Jones."
Boomers came of age during the 60s. At least they had decent music. We came of age during Disco.
I’m not a boomer and I was born in 1953. I’m a bvw.
Boomers are the first generation that was raised on television. The assasination of JFK ended the Boomer epoch.
Yes, I was born in 1964 and I identify completely with X and more with Y than with the Boomers. ;)
I’m four days younger. I’m a generation X’er; Not a boomer, never will be; didn’t give a crap when the Beatles broke up, Watergate was my formative political experience and know that ‘all you need is love’ as long as you also have a .357, negotiable securities and a 401K.
“Oreck” Hussein “Boomer” O’Bama...has a kind of ring to it doesn’t it?
10. Which actress in what movie inspired the “torn sweatshirt/bare shoulder/leg warmer” look among Jonesers in the 1980s?
... a guy did the dance scenes. Yuck! Will never watch the movie again.
Jessica Beals in “Flashdance”.
I hate that I know that.
And I didn’t even see the movie!
A guy was the standin dancer only for the breakdance “spin on her back” routine seen in the finale exhibition to the school admissions committee. It is the same dancer seen earlier in the film doing the moonwalk in an alley.
For the rest of the movie the dance standin is a French dancer, quite female.
I saw this article yesterday also, seems like this question of which generation Obama is a part of is of increasing interest in the media. This New York Times article correctly lays out the three options generationally for someone born in 1961 like Obama, but considering the fact that Obama clearly doesn’t see himself as a Boomer (and his Mom was even a Boomer), it really boils down to Obama as a Joneser or an Xer. In the eye of this beholder, Obama is without doubt a member of Generation Jones—he fits it to a T. Those who argue that Obama is a member of Generation X don’t IMHO really understand these generational differences, since it’s so obvious to those informed on generational matters that Obama is certainly not an Xer. Newsweek had a column last week in which they argued correctly that Obama is specifically a GenJoneser, not a Boomer or Xer.
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