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Chin Up, Gen X'ers: Obama's Right There With You

1 year ago
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Suzi Parker
Suzi Parker
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When I offered unsolicited advice, guys, I didn't mean to crush your Generation X dreams and hearts like a cigarette butt. If you don't want to, you don't have to grow up. I'm 14 years old at heart and still think I'm going to live happily ever after with Simon Le Bon. (Although I did get into a wicked argument with him circa 1998 after a Duran Duran concert, and he broke my heart into tiny pieces when he acted so rudely. But that's another story.)
Punk Peter Pans, stay young. Keep playing video games. It's OK to still long for Asteroids. Get giddy about the new Tron movie. Please believe me, though, when I said that some of you – and you know who you are – may not look so great in that Replacements T-shirt in 2010. Heck, most people don't even remember that band. So trash it, keep The Clash one. Wear it with pride but only if it still fits.
You aren't having a mid-life crisis. Repeat, you aren't having a mid-life crisis. I retract that from my previous post. Instead, consider yourself simply afflicted with a smidgen of arrested development. You can still pretend to be a guitar hero on Saturday night. Just find a girl who appreciates this charming quality.
All I ask is that you quit the slacker whining you learned from bad 1980s and '90s movies. Stop thinking about the old girlfriend who never loved you the way you should have been loved when you played that boom box outside her window. Stop summoning your inner John Cusack.
Focus on all the possibilities out there. In your same age range, if possible. You've previously starred in the 20-something soap opera. Are you sure you want to make a return guest appearance trying to play an aging version of Jake Ryan from "Sixteen Candles"? Yes, you can listen to "My Sharona" while you pursue eHarmony.com.
Gen X'ers should be ecstatic. We aren't home alone anymore. We finally have a president in the White House who came of age wanting his MTV.
Some argue that President Barack Obama is not a Gen X'er, but rather was born on the tail end of the Baby Boomers. No way. He was born in 1961, which some scholars pinpoint as the start of this generation and the end of the Baby Boomers. Obama's mother was a Baby Boomer, which clearly makes him a member of the next generation.
Obama aligns perfectly with us. He loves his Blackberry and iPod. He likes pop culture – after all, he appeared on "The View," didn't he? A few years ago, he even had his picture taken in front of the Superman statue in Metropolis, Ill. He likes casual Fridays. That's totally awesome. No doubt, he dreams of a Ferris Bueller kind of day in Chicago.
But true to generational form, he isn't exactly having the best of luck in his job. He's not alone. An ailment of Generation X? Bad luck. In love. In finances. In life.
It may be this generation is fated for misfortune. We are also known as the spooky 13th Generation –the 13th generation familiar with the American flag. According to statistics, we could care less about the country's leaders. Ironically, Generation X is the most educated of all other living generations, according to a the 2009 Census Bureau survey. The winner here? Student loan collectors. Just ask Obama. He owed on his until he landed a book deal a few years ago.
In 1990, William Strauss and Neil Howe wrote "Generations," a book that "describes a cyclical theory of history based on repeating generational archetypes." The book points out that Generation X is a "reactive" generation. The authors even hint that some connection exists between Generation X births and the devil-child movies of the 1960 and 1970s. Are we all "Rosemary's Baby"?
The "reactive generation" label is not good news for Gen X until we're too old to care. The authors wrote: "A Nomad (or Reactive) generation is born during an Awakening, spends its rising adult years during an Unraveling, spends midlife during a Crisis, and spends old age in a new High." The crisis, according to the authors, that we're facing: The War on Terror. Obama is dealing with that in spades. Bummer.
Gen X guys, there's hope. We'll have a rockin' retirement home rendezvous. See you when REM plays the rest home tour.
Filed Under: Barack Obama, Humor, Woman Up, Culture
Tagged: Aging, baby boomers, Barack Obama, Ferris Beuller, generation x, iPod, john cusack, REM
More articles from Suzi Parker »

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7 Comments

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scythianshah

There's no way Obama is a Gen X'er. I consider him to be a member of Generation Jones - that lovely moniker applied to the second half of the post-war baby boom (born 1945-1964, part 2 being 55-64). These were teenagers of the 70's, not the 80's and 90's.

October 21 2010 at 5:29 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tess :o)

Midlife crisis? At 40 years old, I feel redundant as I am fast approaching becoming a statistic in collecting 99 weeks of unemployment with no job offer. In most industries, I am now considered "old" how about that? However the fawning over Obama in this article is nauseating. I strongly feel that our current president is neither an X'er or Boomer as he lacks any empathy for anyone struggling right now. Obama carefully crafted his campaign in just saying the right thing just get elected and the press continues to buy into this. His speech given at the most recent G2 Summit blaming everyone except himself is the finest example of poor leadership. Chin up Gen X'ers? My generation will never have the chance in succeeding unless Obama looses his bid for re-election.

August 04 2010 at 11:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marian

I was born the same year as the president and have always considered myself a Gen Xer. The thing that disappoints me most about the president is that he is not. He has brought in no new generational ideas representing our age group, but only demonstrates thinking which does indeed harken back to the outdated boomer thinking: on race, economics we are back in the sixties. As leaders, we Gen Xe's need our own ideas and we all need to get out from the shadows of the those older than us. I see this at the college where I work where the boomers, refusing to retire, are still foisting their ideas on the 20 something crowd....truly scary.

July 30 2010 at 11:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Frankie

President Obama is doing an outstanding job as President. The attacks coming from the GOP (party of NO ideas) is nothing more than laughable at best.

July 29 2010 at 9:39 PM Report abuse -6 rate up rate down Reply
Michael

Gen X is the most educated according to Gen X evaluators. Obama has accomplished zero as an economic leader, and has yet to prove he can pay for any of his promised expanded entitlements.
All hat and no cattle, as the old saying goes.

July 29 2010 at 8:23 PM Report abuse +6 rate up rate down Reply
Cathy

Being born in 1952, I truly need to know what generation I am about. Beatnick, hippie, or what. Used to go to the pro-black rallies and anti-Nam rallies, went through the biker stage, welcomed the Beatles to DC and NJ, yet was a Sonny and Cher fan. I am So jumbled here, is anybody in there??

July 29 2010 at 7:01 PM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Cathy's comment
peterdecurtins

You're kidding right? Born in '52 - you are right smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation. 1946 to 1964: that's the classical definition of the boomer birth years. Some theorists say the boomer generation ends in '61...no way. A generation that only span's 15 years? Nope. The 'Lost' generation: 1891 - 1907 The GI/Greatest generation: 1908 - 1926 Silent generation: 1927 - 1945 Baby Boomers: 1946 - 1964 Generation X: 1965 - 1983 Millenials: 1984 - 2002 iGen: 2003 - 2021

October 12 2010 at 6:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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