It’s been assumed for years that members of Generation X (now 24-43 years old) are more relationally oriented than their individualistic Boomer parents. And unlike many sweeping statements about them (like “all Gen-Xers are slackers”), this one seems to have held true. It’s even more pronounced in the up-and-coming members of the Millennial generation, who can’t imagine life without a MySpace or Facebook page where hundreds of friends are leaving comments every five minutes.
Boomers are more interested in individual accomplishments. They like to draw organizational charts so everyone knows who answers to who. But Gen-Xers and below are more interested in working together as a team. They can’t stand hierarchy, and they’re more likely to emphasize the success of the group rather than the individual.
With that (over?)generalization in mind, it’s been interesting to read comparisons of the post-election speeches by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In both Iowa and New Hampshire, Clinton used the word “I” more than 20 times in each speech, while Obama used it less than 5. In his speech following the New Hampshire primary, Obama uttered the word “I” only three times, including the time he said “I want to congratulate” the winner.
Since each candidate has made both a victory speech and a concession speech, you can’t just chalk it up to a desire to shift blame for failure or appear humble in triumph. Obama is just more of a team player.
While most Christians will disagree with many of his policy positions (especially his extremely hardline pro-abortion stance in which he’s refused to concede that babies who survive abortions can be considered “persons”), his approach resonates with many young believers I know (and it’s only slightly due to the fact that he’s a Hawaii boy from Punahou). He’s attracting millions of Gen-X and younger voters because he connects with their desire to accomplish things together. And I think this marks a turning point. Future candidates are going to have to speak the same language if they want any significant support from voters under the age of 40.