It’s Their Fault

It is ironic that, in a presidential election year with both racial and gender firsts, age will likely end up being the most important dividing line in the electorate. The Times looks at this phenomenon today, with a focus not on the generational dividing lines that I’ve concentrated on, but more on the general tension between the old and young.

Excerpt after the jump.

Age will figure in this election — not only because of the gulf in years separating the two candidates, but also because of fault lines of age within the electorate. Both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama will have to reckon with the great mass of baby boomers, the post-World War II generation who make up a major part of the voting demographic and are themselves experiencing for themselves just what it means to get older…

Many boomers, as we all know, cherish and chase youth, and many of them, not surprisingly, could be found at Mr. Obama’s rallies this fall, the political equivalent of a 50-year-old man wearing a baseball cap backward. Yet, at a time when many Americans live into their 80s and beyond, those who are beginning to contemplate their first Social Security check can simultaneously embrace the belief that they will remain active members of society for years, even decades, to come. For these voters, Mr. McCain may seem as much a barrier-breaker as either Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton.

So some “swing” boomers may not be voting based on a acceptance or repudiation of the politics (and politicians) of their era, but instead simply on a belief in youth or a belief in the vitality of old age. This won’t be a driving factor, but its a narrative that will certainly be in play.