August birthdays
highlight McCain-Obama
generational split
By Chuck Raasch
WASHINGTON — John McCain
and Barack Obama are
approaching August
birthdays that will
highlight the
biggest-ever age gap
between major American
presidential candidates.
Obama will be 47 on Aug.
4. McCain will be 72 on
Aug. 29.
Their 25-year gap, and
the questions it
inherently raises about
experience and vitality,
is part of a powerful
generational subtext of
the 2008 campaign.
This is the first
presidential contest to
substantially involve
the emerging
"millennials," a
generation that some
political and social
scientists predict will
be the most politically
active and powerful of
any since the "GI
Generation" that won
World War II.
McCain comes from what
social scientists call
the "Silent Generation,"
those tucked between the
"GI Generation" and the
baby boomers that
followed the war.
McCain's generation
fought in Korea and
Vietnam and has been
split over baby boomer
politics since the
1960s.
If McCain does not win
in November, his
generation could be the
first in American
history to not produce a
president, according to
Morley Winograd, who
co-authored with Michael
D. Hais the new book,
"Millennial Makeover: My
Space, YouTube & the
Future of American
Politics."
Obama is a tail-end
boomer, but his
political appeal is
heavily focused on the
"millennials" who have
begun voting in the last
three presidential
elections. Millennials
are 26 and younger, and
the 100 million of them
born between 1982 and
2003 constitute the
largest and most diverse
American generation
ever.
Both McCain and Obama
have traits that appeal
to this generation:
McCain for his
reputation as a
maverick, Obama for his
focus on casting off the
divisive politics of the
past.
Generational experts
view McCain and Obama as
bookends of a rebellion
against the culture-war
politics over abortion,
marriage and other
social divides of the
baby boomers.
The McCain-Obama match
"is in some ways a
reflection of the
country's lack of
interest in continuing
the boomer political
debate that has gone on
between the two boomer
presidents, (Bill)
Clinton and (George W.)
Bush," said Winograd,
who advised former
Democratic Vice
President Al Gore during
the Clinton
administration.
"It's that whole
culture-war gridlock,
that type of politics
that this country is
really tired of,"
Winograd said. "What
(voters) have managed to
choose are the two
candidates least likely
to continue that kind of
politics."
A June survey by the Pew
Research Center for the
People & the Press
concluded that slightly
more voters are
concerned about McCain's
age (51 percent) than
are concerned about
Obama's inexperience (42
percent).
Recent McCain gaffes,
such as his reference to
a border between Iraq
and Pakistan that
doesn't exist, prompted
critics to again raise
the age issue. McCain's
defenders say they were
human slips by a
candidate who is often
accessible to the media.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson,
director of the
Annenberg Public Policy
Center at the University
of Pennsylvania and an
expert in political
communication, believes
McCain has been unfairly
attacked, especially on
late-night television.
"Treating McCain as if
he had dementia is as
absurd as caricaturing
Obama" as a Muslim or a
terrorist, Hall Jamieson
said, referring to a
controversial New Yorker
magazine cover on Obama.
"We have no evidence to
support either claim,
and there is evidence to
contradict both claims.
We ought to be offended
by both."
The 25-year gap between
Obama and McCain is
bigger than the 23-year
age difference between
Republican challenger
Bob Dole and incumbent
Bill Clinton in 1996.
It's also bigger than
the 17-year-gap between
Republican incumbent
Ronald Reagan and Walter
Mondale in 1984, when
the 73-year-old Reagan
famously quipped that he
would not hold his
opponent's relative
inexperience against
him.
McCain also has used
humor, saying he is "as
old as dirt" and talking
about the feistiness of
his 96-year-old mother,
Roberta, who has been on
the campaign trail with
him. Her presence is a
subliminal message about
familial longevity.
McCain's father died in
1981 at age 70.
Obama's just-concluded
trip to the Middle East
and Europe was designed
to answer questions
about his readiness for
the world stage and to
demonstrate the overseas
appeal of a new
generation of American
leadership.
"He always starts
(rallies) by saying I
respect McCain's service
to the country even if
he won't respect or
honor mine," Hais said
of Obama. "That is a
classic millennial
comment. They love their
parents, but they are
also expecting the same
kind of honor in return
and are quick to point
out when they don't get
it."
Initially, some of those
with qualms about
McCain's age were his
fellow senior citizens.
But he has maintained a
vigorous campaign
schedule, and Pew
discovered that the
percentage of those over
65 who thought McCain
was too old to be
president fell from 30%
in February to 18% in
June.
"I think they are trying
to do as much as
possible to convert age
into experience," said
Tony Fabrizio, a
pollster for Dole in
1996. "But the contrast
between John McCain and
Barack Obama is there.
You can't change the
fact that John McCain
has white hair and
Barack Obama looks
younger."
McCain hinted recently
that youth is an
important consideration
as he considers a
running mate.
In Albuquerque, a
9-year-old reporter from
the youth publication
Scholastic Kids asked
McCain what qualities he
was looking for in a
vice president.
"Someone exactly like
you," McCain said.
"Young, vigorous,
talented."
