Friday, April 28, 2017
Donald Trump is the Last Baby Boomer President
I am of the youngest cohort of Baby Boomers, born in 1960. Donald Trump, from the other end of our cohort, is 70. While the younger Boomers will still be in their prime in four years - and, at a stretch, still viable in eight years - I think the era of Boomer presidents is over.
Barack Obama was the first Gen X president. "No-Drama Obama" exemplified many of the virtues of Gen X. He was a little ahead of time, though, as far as straight generational succession would predict. If Hillary Clinton had been elected in 2008, I think she would have been the last Boomer president, and the normal time for the Gen X succession would have begun with this term.
The Silent generation, by the way, is the first in more than a century to have no presidents. John McCain was probably their best shot, and Bernie Sanders was surely their last.
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4 comments:
Actually, according to the Census Bureau, the BB generation runs from 46 (my group) through 1964. In 2020, the youngest boomers will be 56 years of age, which is only 6 months older than the average age at accession to the Presidency (55 years, 6 months). Considering the recent tendency of older pols to run at older ages, I would suggest that we could easily see BBs elected as late as the election of 2028 or even 2032.
And if President Obama is an example of what we can expect from Gen Xers, one should pray that we don't have another of his generation for some time to come. A "no drama" President who will sell the security of the Nation for a personal legacy (e.g., the hidden agreement to release terrorists in exchange for a paper nuclear deal with Iran) is the last thing we need in this dangerous world.
The Census Bureau ends the Baby Boom in 1959. There is a popular culture count which runs from '46 to '64, which I think is mostly appealing for its apparent symmetry. The novel Generation X was specifically about the early '60s cohorts.
Oh. Maybe someone should tell the Census Bureau. "The term 'baby boomer' refers to individuals born in the United States between mid-1946 and mid-1964." S. Colby and J. Ortman, The Baby Boom Cohort in the United States: 2012 to 2060 Current Population Reports Population Estimates and Projections at 2(citing Hogan, Perez, and Bell, 2008) U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration Census Bureau May 2014 (https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p25-1141.pdf)
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