The Harmony of Discord

Most teachers have met that kid in class who comes on strong. The kid has a presence, a voice, a way of talking, that captures the attention of the room.

This can be very bad. If the kid takes over the class, the teacher is in trouble. The class would rather listen to the kid than the teacher. Things can go awry in a classroom pretty quickly when this happens.

If the teacher is skilled in her craft and knows how to cast the right spell, she will cast a spell on that kid in class. She will shake a little fairy dust out of her red pen and find a way to include the natural little leader into the social fabric of the classroom. She might talk to the kids parents even about finding ways to redirect Johny’s attention and energy. She will give him a voice in things, respect his opinion, and help him learn how to work in the group. She won’t let him take over the class.

It’s one of the things the Boomers are saying to the Bloomers under all the messaging. They are pulling the teacher trick on the Bloomers, on Barak. Barak is taking over the class. What is there to do?

It’s now up to Barak to show what kind of metaphor maker he is. He has to cast a spell to block the old teacher spell that Mrs. Clinton and the Boomers have cast.

The Bloomers are here.

The Clintons are my generation, and we are the old people. Edwards is younger, but he is at the tail end of the boomers. Obama is not speaking to the boomers. He is speaking to the Bloomers. The Bloomers have arrived, and Obama is their leader.

Note to Boomers: Notice how our children have grown to become responsible adults, or most certainly should have by now. Our successful children now appear gainfully employed, with spouses and children of their own. They buy houses and worry about medical bills and juggling their time and money, as the live in a world where the internet is ubiquitous, and cell phones are a necessary fact.  Microsoft Word no longer tries to capitalize Internet.

And here comes Barak Obama. He is not in my generation of Boomers. He is the top of the new generation, and he is one of their leaders. He is speaking directly to them, the Bloomers, not to me; although he certainly appreciates my support and he is very aware that we, the old guys, are watching his every move.

He knows he’s got us. We hear his words, and we can register his core message, although we can’t resist chiding him for a few things that confuse and disturb us. We welcome his youth and hope and optimism.  But, he is speaking to the young, not to us.  He’s got the Clinton-Edwards crowd, if only he could get Clinton and Edwards out of the way.

He needs the young to make this happen for him, and he is one of their leaders.

This election will not be decided on race or gender. It will be decided by generation.

Here’s my prediction. Obama will continue to speak to the Bloomers, while making yes and playing footsie with the old guys. The youth will hear him. They will vote in unprecedented numbers. He will win the nomination after Edwards and Clinton, falling back fast, remove themselves and support him. The Republicans have no youthful choice – they are all grandpas and grandmas.

This is the year the boomers become the old guys.

Here’s to youth!

Here’s to President Obama.

They seem to be on the run, but don’t look for things to get better for a while. With 9/10ths of the human beings on the planet living in something close to abject poverty or worse, it isn’t clear that the people like us, who have access to the internet, wealth enough to buy coffee at Starbucks, and mostly drive cars, are really going to catch on to how high the stakes really are.

But what the hell. Al Gore is admitting that America is wrong on global warming. China is the great hope in leaping from coal to renewable in their search for latte, Bush looks fairly irrelevant, and the horrid reincarnation of NCLB is languishing, awaiting impetus from the new President. Unfortunately, the slate of candiates on both sides seem to be doing more to obfuscate that clarify, and the establishment is waiting patiently for the field to sort itself out. Everything seems to be in the balance, as indeed it always is. We just know it this time.