Phil Gramm Politicians

For the last few days, and for the next few as well I would guess, much has been written about former Senator Phil Gramm's comments regarding the economy. For those of you who have been living under a rock, he said:

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners."

and:

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession."

If you have followed Gramm's career, this shouldn't come as a surprise to you, which is why I don't understand Senator McCain's people having him involved in their campaign. This is a man who, discussing cuts to Social Security, said "They are 80-year-olds. Most people don't have the luxury of living to be 80 years old, so it's hard for me to feel sorry for them." What a softy.

There was a time in our country when this is what it took to get elected. With sound-bite driven media, and the need to constantly feed the hard-liners in both parties "red meat", politicians responded with over-the-top statements and attacked those in the opposing parties with a zeal usually reserved for deer hunters on opening day.

While there are still plenty of partisans and politicians out there who fall into this category, younger voters are changing the process. With the ability to reach beyond the normal sound bite [now just 7.3 seconds on average] by reading blogs and news aggregators, Generation X and Millennials are less responsive to these techniques. While more active than their parents, they are less strident in their politics when it comes to partisan loyalty, and less likely to believe that no good ideas can come from the other side of the aisle.

Not since 1960 have we seen an election where generational differences were as clear as this one as Senators Obama and McCain represent opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to generational definitions. This is abundantly clear now in their choice of supporters and advisers. Those "unpaid" advisers who have spoken out in the Obama campaign have quickly become unpaid former advisers. In the McCain campaign they are merely moved off camera.

Time will tell which of these two brands of politics and governing America wants. I personally predict that not only will the November vote be divided along partisan lines, but generational lines too as with many of us who want to work for our country, and not just our Party, choose Senator Obama.

Unfortunately, we'll have to listen to several more months of Gramm-like politics I'm afraid...