You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.
Skip Navigation

Boomer Self-loathing: Gotta Love It

Every now and again I like to call up Richard Land, the Southern Baptists' delightfully chatty top political guy, about some story idea I'm noodling around with. Yesterday, as we debated the impact of Huck's win in Iowa on the fortunes of the evangelical movement and, more specifically, its leaders, Land went off a tangent about Obama that I can't resist sharing, not because it speaks to the Hillary hatred among social conservatives or to Obama's post-ideological potential, but because it takes a big old slap at Boomers and their endless, unbelievably tiresome obsession with the '60s and Vietnam. And, honestly, who doesn't enjoy that?

I think there is a generational thing going on. The Busters are really tired of the Boomers and all their angst. I’m a boomer and I’m tired of it. As a conservative, I think Hillary is easier to beat. As an American, I'd much rather see Obama be nominee. If Hillary is the nominee, it’s gonna be the last campaign of the '60s Boomers. All the old stuff will be brought out. It will be the last grand battle of the split in the Boomer generation. Our country doesn’t need that. It's over. It's done with. And my generation needs to get over it. Move on. We don’t need any more Swift Boats. But we can’t resist it. I acknowledge that. My wife--during the Swift Boat controversy my wife said to me one morning, "Richard, will Vietam ever be over for us?" I said, "No. We’re going to be throwing our dentures at each other when we're in the old folks home." The problem is our generation split over this, and we both still think we're right.

Ah, it's so nice when a Boomer admits his entire generation is hopelessly neurotic and ruining things for the rest of us.

--Michelle Cottle