barackobama

When I mention Barack Obama to people most either don’t know who he is or comment that he is too young and inexperienced.

Ellen Goodman of the Boston Globe provides some humorous perspective on the situation in her article published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press: Is Obama really too green, or are boomers mislabeling him?

A few snippets:

“Somehow I do not think that Barack Obama gets up in the morning, brushes his teeth, looks in the mirror and says, ‘Wow! A fresh face!’ It doesn’t happen at 45. At 45, you count the crow’s feet and measure the circles under your eyes.

If you are a woman, you start reading the fine print on the Oil of Olay Regenerist label. After, of course, putting on your new reading glasses. If you’re a man, you start swiping eye cream from your wife’s stash.

Is it possible that the same generation that famously didn’t trust anybody over 30 when they were 20 doesn’t trust anybody under 50 now that they are turning 60?

It’s a shock when the people you went to high school with start ruling the world. It’s another rite of passage to acknowledge juniors as your superiors. But boomers are now turning 60 with a life expectancy of 82. It’s an early sign of memory loss to forget that at 45 you were wise or foolish, or both — but you weren’t young.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS