The biggest threat to a Barack Obama victory ironically comes from his own generation, your parents' generation - Generation Jones - born between the Boomers and the X'ers.
Before we start releasing victory balloons, we need to pay some attention to the election of '04. Bush's Karl Rove, a Baby Boomer himself, recognized something the Democrats didn't. He realized that those born just after he (whom many had been considering as late Boomers too) had interests that were in fact quite different. He took careful aim at this group and brought them in for Bush in the final days of the election, even though they'd been leaning toward Kerry.
It's important to understand that these 1954 to 1965er's, coined Generation Jonesers by the political commentator, Jonathan Pontell, tend to lean more to the right than the left. The group is the most GOP-voting generational group in America. Plus they contain the highest percentage of undecideds - particularly among women since, despite their being GenJonesers, women more often lean Democratic. This is a danger for Obama. In 2004 the GOP frightened the group into believing that only the Republicans were strong enough to protect America. They convinced them that Iraq was still possible to 'win," that the economy was solid, that housing would forever rise, and that everyone could and should own a home. Rove hit them with his batch of cultural issues, playing up their so-called "Conservative" values (that's short for being anti-Gay and anti-abortion, an issue this group has not fully appreciated, having never suffered the personal price that earlier generations had paid.)
Now, however, the issues are not so cultural. And your folks, GenY'ers, need to be reminded! The war is mostly off the table - even Iraq's Prime Minister has been insisting that America go home. Today, as in '92, when Bush's father was being voted out of office, it's the economy! The Economy! Because the same stupid, selfish and greedy people have been running it into the ground. People like Phil Gramm, John McCain's co-economic strategist - he's been touted as a possible McCain Treasury Secretary. Remember Phil Gramm? Ex head of the Senate Banking Committee who, according to Mother Jones, pulled a sly and sleazy legislative maneuver that opened the door for the current subprime meltdown? Gramm is now a hugely paid executive and lobbyist at UBS Financial Services, a beneficiary of the current bailout. Then there's Wendy, Gramm's wife. Wendy was instrumental in helping Enron evade the oversight that eventually cost our nation billions. The Gramm family was one of the few who profited from the Enron debacle. As for our current meltdown, the McCain camp likes to blame it on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Well, sure there's blame to be smeared around, but they conveniently ignore the fact that McCain's own campaign manager, Rick Davis, was paid $2 million as president of a lobbying group set up by Fannie and Freddie. the guy's been pocketing $15,000 a month from F&F until the end of this summer. Are these the people we want to continue steering our economy?
Seriously, guys. You need to talk this up. Remind your parents to vote reality. Many Jonesers who started families late are still paying for kids in school. And even more are caring for aging parents of their own and health costs are weighing down hard. Press them to examine Obama's health plan - it is a good and comprehensive one, and his promise to cut taxes on virtually everyone earning less than $250,000 a year. McCain calls that socialism. Nonsense! It's simply making sure that 95% of working families get a piece of the kind of break that the Republicans have been saving for the wealthy. As for that scare they're promoting about Obama's readiness for being Commander in Chief, it's true he doesn't have a lobbyist for Georgia on his staff, but remind your elders that General Colin Powell, along with four star General Wesley Clark and dozens of other top ranking military officers, think Senator Obama's steady judgment and his backbone of steel make him ready to take command on Day One. Convince them, as the children of several former Republican Governors convinced their parents to come out for Obama, as GenJoneser Caroline Kennedy's GenY kids moved her from Hillary to Barack. There's a reason so many Republicans, even some in Bush's inner circle, have turned away from John McCain. Powell, Scott McClellan, Susan Eisenhower, Ron Reagan, Jr., Christopher Hitchens, the entire Buckley family; the list grows longer by the day. As does the list of newspapers that are coming out for Obama. Even Alaska's largest paper just gave him it's nod of approval.
We need to do everything we can, guys. This generation called Jones is nearly a third of all voters. It remains evenly divided with many still vacillating one way or the other. We dare not let the Rovians take them from us again.
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The following short video features some of America's top politicos discussing the
importance of the GenJones role in the coming election: