Thinking about the incredible angst coming from those who

[WCGreen]

are fifty plus and blaming it all on race is, at least in my humble opinion, not the whole story.

I think that this is the first time that a president was younger than they we are, that all the ball players we grew up with and enjoyed are gone, that all the movie stars from their generation are getting old and that the music of our generation is finally getting pushed off the stage.

It's about coming to grips with mortality.

Here comes Obama, a black man who is younger than they are who is talking in a Kennedy way and is suddenly in charge.

It's as if life is passing us by.

Now I use us in the sense that I don't feel this at all but I believe people my age and older are feeling it.

You would have had to come of age in the 70's to see what turmoil Affirmative Action and Busing caused. Equality in the abstract is wonderful but right there in front of you, well.

It's easy to blame the black man in the White House even though his views are pretty centrist. He personifies to many the decade of turmoil, the perceived special treatment and the continued erosion of our, meaning the US, place in the world.

It's a lot to think about. But I believe many are just scared to face the future and that they are gonna push back hard.

[DURHAM D]

1. This is horse manure. nt

Edit to add: I have nothing against horses.

[WCGreen]

2. Why do you say that...

[dionysus]

19. i don't think so.

[EC]

3. You're kidding right?

I'm way past 50 and voted for him just BECAUSE he was young...I think it's time we hand over the reins to the younger generation...the old men there now barely know how the world works now...it's progressed way past so many of them...


As evidenced every time one of those old guys try to describe the internet...

[timeforpeace]

5. Agreed. Race didn't have a thing to do with it. That card is only played when he stumbles.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

17. "Race had nothing to do with it"

How can you type that with a straight face?

[WCGreen]

12. Well that's you...

And I as I explained, myself as well.

But, there are a whole bunch of people who see his youth as a problem.

[hileeopnyn8d]

4. For your

analogy to really work the 50+ group would have felt the same about Clinton, or Kennedy, or Theodore Roosevelt or Grant - they were all younger than Obama when they took office. A total of nine presidents were under fifty.

And how is being angered about perceived special treatment due to affirmative action NOT about race?

[WCGreen]

9. How did you get an apology out of what I wrote...

I was just pointing out that a lot of the angst directed at Obama is not entirely racial.

[hileeopnyn8d]

15. Huh

I'm pretty sure my post doesn't include the word apology, it does say analogy. Though in reading it again, analogy wasn't really the correct word.

[WCGreen]

20. Sorry I had a sputz on my screen and the n looked like a p to me...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I suspect that a lot of DU'ers take exception with your POV...

Because we are not threatened in the way you describe ...

But we're an unusual and progressive group.

On the other hand, folks out there in the vast arenas of America are much more like your description...

Obama is younger, smarter and of course he's black...and those are scary to a lot of whites above the age of 50.

Change is scary. There's no doubt about it.

Well said...

K&R

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. Seems like grasping for straws...no offense intended

[WCGreen]

10. I'm just adding anothe dimension as to why a whole lot of

people out there are all riled up about Obama.

[justgamma]

8. I got over that reasoning

the first time I saw a doctor that was younger than me. Although, I have to say, that was pretty traumatic.

[WCGreen]

11. That is exactly why I am talking...

I have no problem voting for someone younger than I am but I do know the fact he is young and black is a volotile combination for many out there people.

[treestar]

13. Don't agree, with the wingnuts it is race

They were willing to have Sarah Palin close enough - young, and a woman!

But white.

[WCGreen]

14. I'm just putting it out there as what I see from my experience...

[Jennicut]

16. Its funny because to me Obama is clearly middle aged...he is 48!

Not too young, not too old.
Then again, I am in my early thirties.

[quantass]

18. We all die to make room for the Next Generation -- Its just a fact of life.

The older generation ahve to make room for the new...be it in physical age or be it in a culture sense. Things dont last forever. One must either adapt to change or make way for the new. America is changing...slowly, i might add...but it a ncessary one that one could see coming by simply looking at any time in history -- Nothing lasts forever and there was a time when the Beattles were scorned by their older generation.

In time the elderly who resist change will pass away and make room for those who are accepting of reality. The best advice i can give is to enjoy life now because it really is a silly thing to be grumpy over the inevitable.