I’m not one to really delve into politics, but what I’ve been hearing/reading about President Obama over the past few months has been all about his forward-thinking and modernness in terms of his campaign. He’s definitely breaking boundaries with his approach and I’d like to delve into how social media is impacting his presidency. To start off with, he is the first Generation X president, bringing an entirely new philosophy as compared to the Baby Boomers. As such, he has embraced a lot of social media outlets and is really quite on top of things – no longer do we have the outdated leader of the past. It’s really refreshing to finally see the leader of our country making himself available to the masses in the way that he does, from having a Twitter account to keep people abreast of things (although that has definitely dwindled) to posting videos so the masses can listen to his speeches. Now that’s what transparency is all about.
I like that the image and expectations of what a president is can be changed with him. After all, he is all about change! And it certainly is past due for the states to revamp our national leader’s role in interacting with his contituents. We should no longer expect frumpy old white men hiding behind their desk in the Oval Office, but men (hopefully women, soon) of all backgrounds with doors thrown open and information shared. Granted, there will be plenty we will not know due to the sensitivity of the information, but at least this allows us as a nation to have a better idea of what is going on. People never really have a very good idea of what the presidency entails, so if President Obama and his staff can update his blog, Twitter, facebook, and other suck accounts, we can feel like this man is actually doing something for this nation. There is great potential here to reach out to the United States as a person and not a figure or a title.
I would like to see him reminding people of why we celebrate certain holidays as they come along, to encourage the community to understand what all those days off are for. I would like to see updates on his social media accounts, telling us when he’s traveling to another country to meet their leader for talks, or an ambassador is visiting him to talk. I would like to see him bringing attention to the importance of also voting in your local elections. I would like to see him talking about all the issues he’s looking at, from the ongoing war to environmental issues to educational problems, and the like. Most of all, I want to see him involving the people, engaging the people, and continuing to reach out to each of us, as individuals. That’s what I think a great leader would do.
I’ve got high hopes for this man and what he can do not only for the country, but also the presidency.
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April 23, 2009 1:36 am
Obama is part of Generation Jones, between Boom & X
Interesting blog, Laelene. But Obama is certainly not an Xer, and virtually no prominent voices anywhere have said he is an Xer. By contrast, many influential voices have repeatedly said that Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) specifically use this term to describe Obama.
It is important to distinguish between the post-WWII demographic boom in births vs. the cultural generations born during that era. Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. Many experts now believe it breaks down this way:
DEMOGRAPHIC boom in babies: 1946-1964
Baby Boom GENERATION: 1942-1953
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Generation X: 1966-1978
Here’s a 5 minute video with over 20 top political figures discussing the existence and importance of GenJones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ta_Du5K0jk
Here is a recent op-ed about Obama as the first GenJones President in USA TODAY:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
April 23, 2009 10:57 am
Hmm, very interesting point, Politico08. I’m amazed that I’ve never heard a thing about this new term before. I forgot what article I was reading that talked about Obama as a Gen Xer, but after doing a search, he is frequently referred to as both. It depends on who you want to listen to I suppose.
After reading descriptions of Gen Jones, it seems that he fits the bill more than Gen X. But at the same time, virtually every resource you go to will give you different years for all of the generations. So, I don’t know who to trust. Instead I decided to ask him on Twitter and see if he replies.
My point in mentioning his generation at all really was just to say that his thinking and approach is drastically different from Bush’s, pretty much. I also didn’t mean an all or nothing when I said that presidents have all been old frumpy men. That’s certainly not the case. I don’t mean to discount the importance of getting facts straight, but, in this case, I feel that the “facts” are very much undefined. Like I mentioned, each source gives out different year ranges for the generations… so who do you believe?
Though generations are formed through the experiences of the people growing up, you can’t entirely discount the fertility of their parents. After all, on a macro level, if an entire population suddenly skyrockets and then plummets, there is a drastic change in experiences. Parental fertility also matters on a micro level because the life of an only child, someone with siblings, and someone with A LOT of siblings, is immensely different. I don’t believe the two can be separated so easily, just as generational borders are fluid.
Thanks for bringing Generation Jones to my attention though! It seems that in a few years, it will be more recognized and then we’ll see what years the experts settle on. (If they ever settle.)