It occurred to me that when Barack Obama pounded Michelle, and the Fox News fogeys wailed about it being a secret terrorist hand signal, that we’re at a big generational disconnect here.

Barack Obama is the first Generation X presidential candidate. Our generation (yes, I’m a member, although closer to the other end of the range than the Senator from Illinois) speaks a different language, interprets the world differently, and has completely different cultural references from the Baby Boomers and previous generations. And, as usual, each younger generation has to bear the withering assaults of the older generation that just doesn’t get them.

It also occurred to me that Obama’s opponent, John McCain, is not even a Baby Boomer, the generation that gave us both presidential candidates in both 2000 and 2004 (Kerry was born in 1943 but his Vietnam post-war experience suggests he represented the BB’s ideological zeitgeist at the time).

After a successful two-term Clinton presidency and not-so-successful two-term Bush Jr presidency, I don’t think we’re ready to turn back the hands of time and choose someone who most closely resembles the Cryptkeeper at this point.