Obama's generation is...

[Writer]

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. He's a boomer whether he feels like it or not. nt

[NoPasaran]

2. Pepsi Generation

[liberalmuse]

3. I've never felt a part of the baby boomer generation.

I think my generation is aptly named, 'Generation Jones'. It does describe our mindset more than, 'Baby Boomers'.

[Delphinus]

9. I agree about never feeling a part of it,

but what the heck is 'Generation Jones'? I must be missing what 'Jones' means.

[SpookyCat]

12. I just looked it up...

I didn't know that either.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

Technically, if we're gonna use like FACTS and stuff, he'd be Gen Jones...but he's only 7 years older than me, so I claim him!

:hi:

[pnwmom]

15. Demographically speaking, he was a baby boomer, as your link indicates.

"In demographic terms, Generation Jones was part of the baby boom which ended in the early 1960s."

"Generation Jones" is merely a name used by some to refer to a subset of boomers, the ones born in the second half of the generation.

I'm in that subset, and it's true we had a different life experience than those born earlier. But we're all part of the baby boom years demographically.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. D-Generation X

[Jennicut]

36. Hee hee. Triple H and Shawn Michaels claim Obama!

God, I watched wrestling for years, my husband was into it.
I think Obama is not really a baby boomer or a Gen Xer. He feels to young to be a baby boomer, my parents are and they are 61. I am 33 and Obama feels too old to be part of my generation. He is somewhere in the middle, he is Generation Jones or whatever it is called.

[SteppingRazor]

5. I like the Jones idea...

mainly because it's very difficult to pigeonhole an entire generation. Instead of splitting it into 20 years (Boomers 1945-65, Gen. X 65-85, Gen. Y, 85-2005 or what have you), it makes sense to at least try to split it by decade, Boomers 45-55, Jones 55-65, Gen X 65-75, Gen. Y 75-85, ? 85-95, and so on.

The shared experiences will be a lot more common among people of narrower age groups.

[camera obscura]

6. I don't think he's a baby boomer. He's younger than my mom and she was the tail-end of the BBs

[pnwmom]

13. She may think she was at the tail-end, but the last year was 1964.

The baby boom generation covered the 18 years between 1946 and 1964.

Obama was born in 1961.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. 10 year span isn't a generation. It's a focus group. nt

[ElboRuum]

8. Technically Boomer... very, very late boomer, almost GenX but not quite.

[pnwmom]

11. Not very, very late. He's solidly a boomer, with three years to spare.

Obama born 1961.

Baby boomers: 1946-1964

[ElboRuum]

35. Well, late for the cultural iconography associated with boomers.

It would have made him approximately 8 at the tail end of the '60s where most boomers socially identify with late-teen, early adulthood in the late 60's. Counterculture, Vietnam, Nixon, etc. By the time he was 18, Vietnam had been over for 4 years already.

[SpookyCat]

10. I hearby claim him for Gen X...

Very early Gen X, but nonetheless! :P

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. Very early Gen X?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0D15daa3s

[SpookyCat]

18. NIIIIIICE!!!! :-)

[Clio the Leo]

14. Barack America belongs to the ages .....

... he is everyone ... and everyone is him. :)

[Crunchy Frog]

17. I think these attempts to jam people into rigid categories are ridiculous.

Did you know that it would be technically possible to have identical twins belonging to seperate generations?

[Writer]

19. Yup. That's the point. n/t

[pnwmom]

20. The baby boom generation moniker came about because demographers

noticed the "boom" of births that followed the end of World War II. This period of higher birth rates ended in 1964, a period of time which, coincidentally, covered about 18 years (logically, a "generation.")

Since then, the naming of generations has become more popular -- and harder to define.

[Still Sensible]

21. Basically he's a late boomer like my little sister

[Maru Kitteh]

22. He's a boomer. I know that kills some people a little inside, but it's true.

[Barack_America]

23. Jones.

By year, he's technically a Boomer, but by experience he's much more Jones. His mother was, after all, an early boomer herself.

[nsd]

24. Obama's mother was born in 1942, during the war.

Typically 1946 (i.e. the year after the war) is given as the start of the baby boom.

ETA: A 1942 birth would make her part of the "Silent Generation."

[Barack_America]

27. Chronologically, yes. But as Obama describes her, she sounds much more like a Boomer.

Interestingly, Wikipedia says that the Silent Generation ended in '42 or '43. I wonder what the people born in '44 and '45 are considered? :shrug:

[Odin2005]

30. '44 and '45 births are Boomers. Too young to remember much about the war

Also, IIRC, people born in 1943 were the oldest people that could of been drafted to go to Vietnam after it escalated

[Cha]

25. Obama is Generation Jones but I see your poll

doesn't reflect accuracy.

"Generation Jones is a term used to describe the generation of people born between 1954 and 1965. The term is used primarily in English-speaking countries and Western Europe, although it is used to some degree globally.<1><2><3> The birth years typically used in the U.S. are 1954-1965, but these tend to vary slightly in other countries, usually starting no earlier than 1953, and ending no later than 1968."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

I guess my kids are still Generation Jones(thank you)..whereas I'm a War baby.

[Radical Activist]

32. You sound like

my family. My parents are war babies. My brother certainly isn't a boomer but he's a little too old to be Gen X and never identified with that age group.

[Cha]

34. I'd never heard of Generation Jones until this very

survey and now I can tell my kids what Generation they are

“Why the ‘Generation Jones’ Vote
May Be Crucial in Election 2008”
By Peter Fenn Published October 23, 2008 Excerpt:
“The one group that might be worth a special look is the “Generation Jones” voters…they are very much up for grabs in this presidential election and in the down-ballot Senate and House races…as Campaign 2008 enters the final days, keep an eye on these voters — they will be critical to the outcome.” - link to full article

http://generationjones.com/2008election.html

And this link as to why it's called Gen Jones..

<snip>

"Why “Jones”? The name embodies the idea of a large, unknown, invisible generation. And, Mr. Pontell says, this generation has a “Jones,” or longing, for its own identity and for the world it was promised as children but never received."

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1999/11/12/loc_who_is_generation.html

Sounds dramatic..poor longing ones. My son was born in the summer of Love. That can't be bad.

[TheKentuckian]

26. Barely a Baby Boomer

it is what it is. I'd like to claim him as an X'er and he might really be more in line with us but I'm guessing Obama may be the last boomer President. Maybe one more but I think the nation will be ready to take another step leftward by then and that will probably be the the job of the next generation to lead.

[Barack_America]

28. Wikipedia declares Obama as "Generation Jones".

Just found this under the "Baby Boomer" entry:

"Baby Boomer cohort #2 or Generation Jones (born from 1955 to 1964)
Memorable events: Watergate, Nixon resigns, the Cold War, the oil embargo, raging inflation, gasoline shortages, Jimmy Carter's imposition of registration for the draft, punk or new wave from Deborah Harry and techno pop to Annie Lennox and MTV

Key characteristics: less optimistic, distrust of government, general cynicism
Key members: Douglas Coupland who initially was called a Gen Xer but now rejects it and Barack Obama who many national observers have recently called a post-Boomer, and more specifically part of Generation Jones<22><23><24><25>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers

[Odin2005]

29. Sociologically Gen-X, Demographically Boom

Folks form in the early 60s are Gen-Xers from a socio-historical perspective even though they are a part of the demographic baby boom. The term "Generation X" itself was coined by writers born in the early 60's to differentiate themselves from Boomers.

A book on generation I have says:

Silent generation: 1925-1942
Boom Generation: 1943-1960
Generation X: 1961-1981
Millennial Generation: 1982-2003

[Jennicut]

37. Hmmm, 61 to 81. Makes sense, I was born in 75.

[Radical Activist]

31. Gen Jones.

Culturally he isn't a boomer. His life experience wasn't primarily shaped by the 60's. He's a little too old to be Gen X even though he has more in common with them.

He's in between the Boomers and Gen X. Someone who unites and bridges the gap between generations.

[supernova]

33. I don't feel like a Boomer

and I'm a year younger that Barack. So I don't claim that title for myself. I hate the "Jones" moniker too, because it's so nondescript. And I don't feel that way.

I was too little for Woodstock, though I was aware of it and enjoyed the general idea of it.

I was too little to argue much about Vietnam, but it did play a part in my desire to work for peace today.

I was the perfect age for Watergate, Been a bleeding heart liberal ever since. :rofl:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

38. Christ I hope he's only a boomer in technicality.

The "greatest generation" they ain't.