I’m neither the first journalist nor the first blogger to reflect upon our nation’s past with an eye toward her future. To say that tomorrow’s inauguration will mark an important day in our history is like saying the sun will rise and water will flow. The importance here is obvious.
Regardless of whether you (my readers) support President-elect Barack Obama’s ideas and goals, I suspect you all understand their significance.
You see, my generation never had a Jack Kennedy. We barely had a Ronald Reagan. By the time we came of age, Bill Clinton’s philandering was old news, and any respect for the office of President ceased to exist when journalists started vying for book deals. As for patriotism, we were too young to appreciate the nationalistic effects of the Cold War. Sure, we’ve got textbooks, archived footage and even the Rocky movies to show us how things used to be–for better or worse–but it’s not the same. Even the American solidarity we saw following the September 2001 terrorist attacks quickly faltered as we focused our hatred onto the Middle East, almost as if the entire region swarmed with enemy combatants.
Growing up in the early ’90s, bands like Nirvana told us to be apathetic. As the decade continued, television and films said that we should be sarcastic and condescending toward anyone with a positive outlook on life. The naught years told us to be excessive–to party hard, revive the yuppie spirit, and to first and foremost look out for ourselves.
I didn’t buy into it, and neither did my friends. And now it seems the tides might turn in our favor. “Hope” is no longer an idea that inspires childish snickering. People seem to have regained their optimism.
Perhaps it’s a pipe dream, but maybe tomorrow will mark the day when Americans started looking out for each other again. It’ll be a long road… but do you think we can do it?
The artist Will I Am created the above video and song from Barack Obama’s speech at the New Hampshire primary. You can watch the speech here. If you’d rather read the entire transcript, click here.
Rima Chaddha Mycynek is a writer, reporter, editor, photographer, videographer, former talk show host, and all-around journalism nerd. She currently teaches multimedia journalism at Boston University. [
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6 users responded in this post
Awesome post!
As a 40-year-old, coming of age during the Reagan Years, I can tell you that my generation didn’t exactly have a Jack Kennedy, either. I still don’t see why Reagan is revered as some kind of heroic figure because in my mind he was just a vapid figurehead, a B-movie actor, and the real control of US policy during the Reagan years was in the hands of George Bush I, Dick Cheney, and the like.
I, too, feel a newfound hope with Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. It’s a wonderful break from the cynicism about politics and politicians that the last 30 years have instilled in me.
I know it won’t be easy, and I know that Obama’s reforms won’t take place on the schedule that he had promised during his campaign. He’s going to get fought every step of the way by lobbyists and contrarians, and before he even starts his agenda he has to deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929.
But Barack Obama is one of my cohort. Born in 1961, he’s part of the so-called “Generation X.” Thank God we’re finally going to be spared from the legions of self-righteous baby boomers (and reactionaries who decried their values and tried to push us back into the McCarthy years) who have dominated US politics. Obama, like me, is a pragmatic idealist. And this is why I finally have hope.
I’m glad to be alive at this tremendous time in history, when the first black man was elected to the nation’s highest office, and when we have our (last) chance to start fixing the things our forebears screwed up.
Great post Rima.
I’ve never been much of a political geek, so I’ve never gotten very excited or very depressed over anything politics-related.
That’s changed with Obama. I’m just so excited and hopeful now. I can’t really explain why, but I just feel so excited to be alive and for what the future holds for our country. I can’t help but feel this incredibly positive buzz when I think of what Obama – and this country as a whole – can accomplish.
But, I have definitely run across plenty of people who are on the other side of the fence. Their generally very negative attitude is baffling to me. Breaks my heart, too.
I just don’t understand how they don’t, or can’t, want for a better world, not just for themselves but for their fellow man.
DWC:
“As a 40-year-old, coming of age during the Reagan Years, I can tell you that my generation didn’t exactly have a Jack Kennedy, either.”
You know, I’m glad you say that. I got into politics at a very early age,* and so I forget that the Boomers who ruled politics back then are now headed into retirement (that is, if they aren’t already there).
That you and President-elect Obama are too young to have known first-hand what the Kennedy years were like says a lot about your generation. You bring up great points.
On the note of Reagan, love him or hate him, he was probably our last “this is our hero” president. He was the last guy whom Americans (most Americans) stood behind and considered fearless, even flawless. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but it is a point of interest. This sort of cheer-leading for our president just doesn’t happen anymore. It almost did in the months following 9/11, but even then it quickly dissipated.
*I was nine when my mom asked me very seriously who I thought would win the 1992 election. For those playing at home, I guessed right, but it was more of a hunch than the result of heavy analysis.
Sheena:
I think it’s hard for people to be hopeful these days. We’re coming out of an era where anything positive or cheerful has been dubbed lame, silly, short-sighted, foolish, you name it.
Hopefully the negative people you mention will come around.
It would be a terrible world where hope, in light of tomorrow, was considered a bad thing.
You might find it interesting that I was just watching the guy who played Toby on the West Wing talking about how incredible it is to hear Obama talk. It almost feels like a West Wing moment.
btw, incase you are interested, Jimmy Smits character on West Wing was based on Obama. And the nerdy and immature Josh Lyman was based on the guy who became Obama’s chief of staff. (Leo McGarry’s role)
And if you remember, the first thing Smits did on the show after winning the election, was forge a bipartisan working relationship with his republican rival.
btw, on the plus side you don’t have the pressure of living with nuclear bombs aimed at you. Literally I grew up knowing each day at any moment I was 30 minutes from being nuked if the Russian president chose to press a button. There’s alot of stress to that. And I’m glad you didn’t have to deal with it.
On the other hand, I remember the Apollo missions. That was SPECTACULAR. Insanely magical. I was just a kid. But I remember that.
Btw, I was a fetus when Kennedy went to Dallas that day. Though growing up, you felt the nation’s reverence for the man. And Jackie Kennedy.
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