He’s One of Us Now

Two days later, Clinton won the New Hampshire primary. Humiliated, the pundits and prognosticators who expected an Obama victory went into paroxysms of guilt. We trusted the polls! they said. It was the echo chamber! But no one mentioned generational bias. Most of the reporters in the Winnacunnet press pen were embeds or bloggers—the eyes and ears of their newsrooms. Almost all were my age. And for many, Iowa was their first big election. Seduced by the familiarity—the "rightness"—of Obama's message, it was hard, as millennials ourselves, not to assume that it appealed equally to everyone. But the truth is, we're far more coddled and comfortable than previous generations. Weaned on self-esteem and offered unlimited choice (technology again), we grew up with a sense of entitlement—specifically, for control. And in New Hampshire, it seems, some Democrats heard something like entitlement in Obama's gauzy pledge to "change Washington." Untroubled by debt, or joblessness, or unsupportable children, Obama's millennial fan base (and the older, typically wealthy whites who vote with them) can afford the luxury of privileging process over policy. Clinton, on the other hand, ditches the packaging and goes straight to the product—the plans she'll fight Republicans to pass. It may not have the same "cool factor" as Obama's brand, but to Clinton's base of women, Latinos and downscale Dems, it's enough to seal the deal.

Now that the race is deadlocked, I have no idea which generation of leadership Democrats will choose: the boomer Clinton, who promises to play by the old rules and win, or the millennial Obama, who promises to change the rules entirely. But the next time I'm tempted to write that Obama's "on fire," I'll remember Joanne Barton, a New Hampshirite I met at Exeter's Loaf & Ladle café that Sunday between the Obama and Clinton events. Decades ago, Barton suffered a car crash while pregnant; her baby was born with disabilities, and after more than a dozen operations, she still walks with a cane. Clinton had always been a hero. "When I was in that hospital bed, I saw her on TV with her chin up, leading Chelsea by the hand," she told me. "That was after Monica, and it's always inspired me to keep my chin up, too." Barton was still deciding between the candidates when we met, but two days later she went with Clinton. "I'm not a rah-rah person," she said. "And Obama's relying too much on rah-rah. He's not addressing our concerns."

Whether true or not, there are plenty of Democrats who agree. So I'm going to hold off on that steak dinner for now.

© 2008