I’m going to try to make this simple. On the Democratic side you have a guy whose campaign has been based on the Internet, who believes America may have something to learn from other countries (like universal health care) and who’s unafraid in 2008 to say he’s a “proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world.”
On the Republican side, you have a guy who, in 2008, is just discovering the Net and Google and whose No. 2 is a woman who got a passport last year and believes she understands Russia because Alaska is closer to Siberia than Alabama.
This is why the older generation still favors McCain and the younger generations favor Obama. The younger generations understand the interconnectedness of the world, the need for diplomacy rather than threats, and they don't share the jingoism of the "greatest generation." It's not that they don't love this country. It's that they know it is suicide to love this country and hate the world.
The younger generation also feels much more comfortable with a candidate with brown skin. The younger generation has traveled around the world, and gone to school with people of all skin hues who speak multiple languages. The older generation, on the other hand, fought in World War II in a segregated army, and grew up when segration was the reality of America. The world of John McCain and those older than him is gone.
This really is a transformational election and that is why, no matter what stunts McCain pulls (and the only way he can win is with stunts that fool just enough people), Obama will win, and if we are a wise people, by a much larger margin than people think.
It is a changing world, and we need a candidate who represents and understands the need for America to change.
