It’s not every day that a few billion of us get to see the proverbial torch handed off right before our eyes.
We saw it Tuesday.
The inauguration of Barack Obama was awash in symbolism, much of it momentous.
But there was something else afoot on those Capitol steps. It was a transition of power from old to new. From baby boomer to latter-day post-boomer.
Get used to it.
As political analysts and social observers see it, Jan. 20, 2009, might go down as the day the curtain closed on the baby boomers’ era. As George W. Bush rode off into the sunset, some say, the sun set on his cohorts.
“There is a changing of the guard that is going on that is a very good thing,” said Denver political consultant Sean Duffy. At 45, Duffy is, technically, a boomer. But like Obama, he came of age a decade after the turbulence of the 1960s.
A “solutions-oriented” tack
“Part of it is just the tolling of the clock. But also, I think there really is a sense of the country moving toward a more solutions-oriented approach that’s less interested in banging around ideology on both sides,” Duffy said.
Obama is bringing a passel of youngsters with him to the White House: Timothy Geithner, his treasury secretary pick, is 47. His education secretary, Arne Duncan, is 44. For surgeon general, Obama reportedly has his eye on 39-year-old CNN heartthrob Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The generational shift is outside Washington too. Colorado seems to be riding that youthful wave for all it’s worth.
Just ask our newborn senator. At 44, Michael Bennet is the youngest member of Washington’s most elite club. Or ask our new state Senate minority leader. From the vantage of Josh Penry’s 32 years, Bennet must seem almost codgerly.
Then there’s Sean Menke, who became Frontier Airlines’ chief executive at a ripe-old 38.
The Broncos’ Josh McDaniels is one of the youngest head coaches in NFL history — but even he got bested in the annals of whippersnapperdom just days later, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers anointed Raheem Morris, five months McDaniels’ junior.
Even Pepsi has caught on. The soft drink’s latest ad informs viewers, “Every generation refreshes the world. Now it’s your turn.”
To some, the boomers can’t shuffle off soon enough. Of two baby-boomer presidents, one was impeached and the other plumbed new depths in approval ratings.
“The end of the baby-boomer run is near, and that’s OK with me. I feel like I’ve lived in their shadow for 43 years,” said Chris Howes, who runs a Denver-based lobbying firm. “If I never hear another Crosby, Stills and Nash song again, I’ll be happy.”
But boomers aren’t going quietly into oblivion.
That Pepsi commercial? Its accompanying music is the ultimate boomer anthem, the Who’s “My Generation.”
“I don’t like this idea of being put out to pasture,” said Juana Bordas, a first-wave boomer who said John F. Kennedy inspired her to join the Peace Corps after college.
“It’s not just about a new generation, it’s how do we work together,” said Bordas, president of Mestiza Leadership International, a Denver firm specializing in multicultural leadership.
Technically, the 47-year-old Obama is a boomer.
But that seems due more to demographic miscalculations than any similarity of mind-set or experience.
Officially, anyone born between 1946 and 1964 is a boomer. In reality, many 40-somethings feel more part of a boomer second-wave, people who missed Woodstock because it went past their bedtimes, who were influenced more by Marcia Brady than Abbie Hoffman.
Until now, those not-quite boomers but not-quite Gen-Xers have been largely ignored. But with Obama forging the way, they may be coming into their own.
They’ve even gained names: cuspers and post-boomers. Jonathan Pontell studied the issue and came up with his own term: Generation Jones.
Pontell, who parlayed early business success into a career as a cultural observer, said the term stems from the slang for a craving because that group has grown up craving things — like their own identity.
Obama “is basically the best proof that there is a Generation Jones that I’ve ever seen.”
Ideology and idealism
To Pontell, the main difference between boomers and Jonesers is the difference between ideology and idealism.
The ’60s ideology produced strong beliefs that allowed no middle ground, he said. “You did not compromise. That meant you were selling out.”
Or, as 62-year-old boomer George W. Bush once said, “You’re either with us or against us.”
Idealism, tempered by practicality, is a change Pontell predicts this new Obama-led wave will bring.
Bordas, the ’60s idealist, sees that too. “It’s not just passing the torch. It’s how you integrate wisdom and experience of the older generation with the energy of the new,” she said. “I think Obama is demonstrating that.”
Whatever they’re called, these younger boomers had better not get comfy in charge, because there’s a whole crop of younger youngsters already breathing down their necks.
People like 32-year-old Josh Mc- Daniels. On the surface, McDaniels, Frontier’s Menke and even Obama seem to thumb their noses at one social construct baby boomers didn’t shatter: working your way up.
The rap on Obama was his lack of experience.
Denver’s new kid in town, McDaniels, didn’t grind out years of college coaching before he had the audacity to hook up with the New England Patriots.
But these people aren’t necessarily inexperienced. They may simply be differently experienced, said Steven Cohen, professor of public administration at Columbia University.
“In the kind of world we’re in now, it’s not clear what kinds of experience you need for certain tasks. In particular, president of the United States is a unique job,” he said. “It’s hard to know what the proper preparation is for that.”
Bennet may not have held elected office before, but he boasts a resume any Type A would envy — lawyer, businessman, head of schools.
And the often-mocked community organizing that Obama performed likely helped his campaign amass an effective grassroots network.
Still, there is some reason for elders to take heart.
Oakland’s Lane who?
Remember the Oakland Raiders’ Lane Kiffin, the title holder of youngest NFL coach in the modern era?
Of course you don’t.
First lady Michelle Obama may have chosen 26-year-old Jason Wu to design her inaugural gown, but the reviews of his creation were mixed.
And just when it seemed the world was turning its back on anyone old enough to hum “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” suddenly, barreling out of a clear-blue sky into our pantheon of heroes, came one Chesley B. Sullenberger III.
At 57 years old and sporting a crown of unretouched white hair, he was flying fighter planes before McDaniels arrived on the planet.
But as Sullenberger slid his US Airways jet perfectly onto the calm, gray waters of the Hudson River in New York City, it’s a safe bet that the 154 people text-messaging loved ones and praying like mad were grateful for each and every one of his 35 years of experience.
Karen Auge: 303-954-1733 or kauge@denverpost.com
