Which Generation?

David Ignatius has an interesting OpEd in the Washington Post, in which he explores what generation will have the most appeal to voters. Will voters elect the third Baby Boomer in a row with Hillary Clinton; Will voters regress backwards towards the Greatest Generation with John McCain; Or will voters turn the page towards the next generation with Barack Obama? It looks like Obama may have the advantage as far as history is concerned:

The most obvious and emotional generational appeal is Obama's. The 46-year-old senator, though technically a baby boomer, is really the bow wave of the next generation now rising in politics. Watching him Tuesday night, appearing on television immediately after John McCain, it was striking just how young he looked. Even his soaring rhetoric has a generational pitch. "Our time has come, our moment is real, and change is coming to America," he said.

The Kennedy comparison is overused with Obama. But on this issue, it's entirely justified. JFK was a candidate of generational change -- of youth and "vigor," as the Kennedys liked to say. Part of what charmed America and the world in 1960 was that Jack and Jackie were so young and marked such a break with Dwight Eisenhower's "granddad" Republicanism. America in 1960 was confident and restless enough to roll the dice and vote for a 43-year-old.