Gen-Xer Runs for President
The more I hear about Barack Obama, the more he sounds like a gen Xer to me. This is most probably the effect of selective perception, I admit, but he -is- in his mid-forties. Tody in The American Prospect, Harold Meyerson writes about Obama’s pitch to the DNC, along with Hillary and Edwards. He quotes Obama as expressing concern for the “debasing of the public sphere.” That, of course, hit home for me as a Rhetorical Studies person. It’s interesting that all the typical public address statements about concern for the public sphere revolve on the whole balkanization (from which, admittedly, the Democratic Party does suffer), and now we live in a nearly facist state where the decline of public debate lies at the foot of censorship. Of course, NCA-style rhetoricians are also concerned about free speech and open debate, so I recognize I’m overstating the age gap here. Nonetheless, I continue to find myself identifying with Obama more than Hillary, although I still think Obama is unelectable.
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