Baby Boomers Beware of the Obama Administration? by Myrna Blyth

Anyone who has read a women’s magazine in the last 25 years has most likely read the work of Myrna Blyth, who weighs in at wowOwow with this provocative piece. Myrna is the founding editor of More magazine, was the longtime editor-in-chief of Ladies’ Home Journal, and was senior editor for Family Circle magazine. She is the chairman of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. She has received many awards including the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications, Inc., the Woman of Achievement Award from the New York City Commission on the Status of Women, and was named Publishing Executive of the Year by Advertising Age. Currently she writes for The National Review Online.      

Which is the only prejudice that remains acceptable? It is ageism, of course. Voters in the recent election unashamedly told pollsters that age was more of an issue for them than race. More voted against McCain because of his age than voted against Obama because of his race. And nobody seems to think this is a prejudice that even deserves much comment.

Pundits keep lauding Obama’s victory not only because of its inclusiveness but because it is a generational change. Obama, though technically a baby boomer, is being touted as our first post-boomer president. He comes in after two leading-edge boomers who both had seriously flawed presidencies.

It is Obama’s youthful telegenic appearance, his coolness, his understanding of the power of the Internet that are important parts of his appeal to the public and, especially, to the media which needs the young, the hip, the photogenic. There is very much a sense of out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new, and in this case the old seems anything or anyone 55-plus. In fact, one wonders if in the future 55-plus will be the sell-by date for any presidential candidate. 

This election also seemed to reinforce what we already know, that we now live in a society where experience doesn’t matter very much. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain went down claiming experience counted. It didn’t. Hillary’s harking back and McCain’s reference to even fairly recent history turned people off.  

Americans have had great affection for “the greatest generation,” the generation of Obama’s grandparents, those who grew up during the Depression and fought World War II. Their sacrifices and their selflessness are still admired. But there is a lot less affection or respect for baby boomers, especially leading-edge boomers. McCain’s defeat was the final shrugging off of the sacrifice of the Vietnam vets.     

Add to that baby boomers tend to be as full of ageism as anyone younger. It is boomers who, while still humming “Forever Young,” reach for the Botox, the Restalyne and the Viagra. They have tried, somewhat desperately, to stay ageless rather than become mature. Part of the problem with ageism now is that not only do the young not respect their elders any more, those who are older do not respect themselves.

In a way, ageism is not different from racial prejudice. African Americans always acknowledged that they internalized the negative attitudes society had about them and their physical appearance. It is the same way boomers feel about their wrinkles and themselves. But in the last years the media has helped change the image of black Americans. Karl Rove was right. The Huxtables of the Bill Cosby Show helped prepare the mindset for Obama’s election. But the media, which does not even measure the appeal of their shows to viewers over 49, has no interest in creating flattering portraits of older Americans.          

This young-old divide can become a major problem for the future. Boomers are still the largest segment of the population. And, they are the ones whose 401ks have been decimated. Part of our economy’s two-decade dizzying growth spurt was fueled by the free-spending two-income boomers. Now they will become the major recipients of government programs. During the next decade more and more of them will be getting Social Security and Medicare. More and more of them will be dealing with serious or chronic money-draining illnesses.  

How will the public react if this generation, for which there is little fondness, becomes our society’s greatest financial burden? And how will the Democratic party, which owes its recent victory to its enormous appeal to young voters, deal with the increasing needs of the boomer generation? Perhaps that depends on whether ageism, the prejudice we don’t even have be embarrassed about, becomes even more pervasive.