Joe Biden Will Probably Be the Last President of My Generation

[MineralMan]

As I watched him and Kamala Harris speak last night, that thought struck me like a hammer. President Biden will do a great job, I'm sure, but the days of Presidents born in the 1940s are about over.

Kamala Harris's speech was the speech of our future leaders. Joe's speech was one of healing and repairing.

I was born in 1945. I'm still as competent as ever, but how long is that going to last? Physically, I do not have the endurance I once had, despite still retaining all of my skills. I'm wearing down. That's an inevitable process.

Perhaps we will have, as a future President, a woman who wears Converse All-Stars and who is at the peak of her powers. Or someone like her.

You go, Joe! You won one more for our generation, but please keep helping the next generation learn how it's done.

[niyad]

1. KNR

[Turin_C3PO]

2. Your generation

has a lot of great people who have done great things in our history. Hopefully when my generation, the Millennials, gets the torch, we do as good a job as you guys have done.

[MineralMan]

3. Like every generation, we did some very good stuff.

However, we also did some very bad stuff. I hope we'll remember the good stuff first.

Donald J. Trump is also part of that same generation.

[Turin_C3PO]

9. True, true.

Undoubtedly, Trump is going to go down as our worst president ever. And we've had some bad ones.

[Blue_true]

7. Your generation will be ok. You rose to the challenge of voting a monster

out of office. I have no idea where we would be headed had Trump won, and I still shudder to even think about it.

Like every generation, your generation will rise to the challenges that face it and through that process, will establish whether it is a great generation or one that is somewhat disappointing, like mine, the Babyboom generation, we had so much potential and squandered it by helping to elect people like Nixon, Reagan, Bush II and Trump. My generation is the most self-centered one in history, I hope that when the record for your generation is recorded past halfway, you have more positives than negatives.

[bigtree]

4. most aging people think like this

...yes, it may well be the end of an era.

But most of our social and public behavior is cyclical, not spiraling down, or any reductive notion that fits in with the decline of our own lives.

This generation has a lot to teach Joe, and I'm certain they will grow together.

[MineralMan]

6. Generations are made up of individuals.

Despite sharing a common historical perspective, each generation has its individuals who work for good and others who work for bad. No generation can be characterized by the acts of individuals. Instead, it is the general trend of things that marks the generations. As you say, that tends to be cyclical.

I'm neither praising nor condemning any generation. I'm just remarking on the winding down of my generation's influence. The future is about to be planned by the next generation which has reached its full potential. My generation has done what it has done, for good and for bad.

Next...

[calguy]

5. My sentiments as well

As I watched them speak last night I saw a well balanced team that will use Joe's wisdom and experience from the past to shape Kamala's hopes and dreams for the future.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. As an original baby boomer (1946) I'm sure you're right on that.

Frankly, I would have preferred a younger candidate this year, but I think Biden was the one person who could defeat Trump. Not because the other candidates were lacking, but I felt he was centrist enough to appeal to some of Trump's less avid supporters.

I see younger people getting involved in politics and that's a good thing. The world is changing and progressing and our politics need to change. We need new ideas, new energy and the people to carry it through.

When we were young we called for and fought for racial equality, gender equality and environmental issues, among other things. While there is still work to be done on all those issues, there are new challenges facing us today and it will take new faces to deal with them.

[MineralMan]

11. What I want, I realize, is not generally what happens.

When I saw Kamala Harris announce her candidacy back in 2019, I remarked to my wife that we had just seen the voice of the future speaking. My wife brought that up to me last night after Harris made her remarks in New Hampshire.

The work for progress continues, but we all must be sure to see that progress is the goal, every time we hold elections. If our attention slips, we get people like Trump who set things back. Every election matters.

[Wounded Bear]

10. As a boomer myself, I was getting used to the Pres being younger than I am...

Looking forward to when that is true again. I mean I'm glad Joe won because the alternative is unthinkable, but we do need to give the reins to the younger folk some day.

[dsc]

12. I figure he might be the last President older than me

Obama is a bit older than I am so, so far I have been younger than every President I have lived under but I figure this will be the last time. I was born in 1967. In 2024 I will be 56 turning 57. I admit I can't imagine in 25 years I would be wanting to run the free world. I am pretty amazed at Biden's stamina to be honest. Though, Carter is the one who blows me away. 90+ and building houses.

[modrepub]

13. Gen X

Same here. I'm wondering if anyone from our generation will be President. It's been all Baby Boomers or Silent Generation since Clinton. If you accept that 1965 is the cut off, than Obama and Harris are Baby Boomers. Being a smaller population than the millennial, I wonder if the Presidency will just skip our generation.

Figuring out what defines Gen X is a bit hard. Maybe the oil shocks/embargos. The Reagan Presidency and Wall Street. High interest rates and inflation. The rise of the computer, internet and email. We are a bridge generation I suppose between the age of telephone, newspapers, books and television/cable and the interconnected on-line internet world we live in today.

[Polybius]

15. There are no "born in the 70's" politicians that ran for president yet

At least on our side (they had Rubio and Cruz). Booker is Gen X, but 60's Gen X. Mayor Pete was born in the 80's, and I'm not even sure he is an Xer he's so young.

I seriously think we may never have a 70's born president.

[Bettie]

18. Everything else skips or ignores us

I suspect that will be the case with this too.

Though, Harris has more in common with GenX than Boomers.

[Polybius]

14. Probably, unless they nominate Mike DeWine (Ohio governor)

I wouldn't take an election against him for granted.

[Arthur_Frain]

16. And that is a good thing.

Speaking from twenty years behind you, one of the reasons we are where we are is that it’s past time for your generation. I don’t mean that in a testy, peevish way either.

A problem in any system; hands that hold the power always become loathe to relinquish it.

In the twenty years that separate you and I, I’ve watched nearly every aspect of our society expand, diversify, and adapt except our politics. It’s always, always always, the old white guys in the room from whom the selection is made. I’m aware of the complex reasons due to systemic racism, white privilege, etc. but even when the opportunity arises to not pick an old white guy, we do.

Joe wasn’t my first choice, but I voted for him. I’m hoping his “transitional president” statement is one he takes to heart. He’s done well so far, but I wonder at our failure to unseat idiots of near magnitude down ticket like Graham and McConnell? I don’t really need to ask that question, living where I do, both Sullivan and Young will probably win re-election here, although I’m hoping for another ray of sunshine after our votes are counted on the 10th.

But then we fail to defeat old white guys when we run young minorities or women against them, in most cases. So there’s that. Not sure if that’s racism, misogyny, or just plain name recognition, which is what I think local politics devolve to mostly. Unfortunately.

Ive wondered too if trump pulled a “don’t throw me in that briar patch” by mewling too loudly about Biden. Would we have done better down ticket with someone more progressive from the next gen on top? How does a Biden presidency look like anything except a return to the status quo? He talks a great game (he should, experience as a public speaker counts for something, and Joe has mastered that) but would we have this squeaker if we had someone from the next generation on top? A little more vital, a little more open to taking the next step? We’ll never know.

I hope we figure this out, and I hope we do that soon, because if we don’t, four years from now trump 2.0 is going to put us right back out of relevance. Their base will ensure that. No matter how good Joe is at reaching out, most of trumps base simply will not be reached out to.

[Klaralven]

17. I'm disappointed that we went backwards after Obama

W was born in 1946 and Obama in 1961. It's pretty rare in US history for a much younger president to be elected, serve 8 years, and then be succeeded by a president as old as his predecessor. And now we have a president-elect who is even older.

I'm pretty sure this is a sign of something wrong in our political system.