Will We Ever Elect Another Old White Dude?

A talking head on the radio blathered out that Barack Obama has broken through the electorate constructed barrier of only electing old white men. He said it with confidence and the show's host supplied a verbal nod of agreement. And as I reflected on the point I found myself eventually rolling down the car window and shouting to the world "WTF?!" (which I shouted as letters since saying the words would have been inappropriate given the Dodge Caravan rocking to Laurie Berkner right next to me).

Khaki Factoid: The era of electing old white dudes ended with Ronald Reagan.

When America elected the Gipper, we voted for the promise of his integrity and experience, but since then we have sided with youth and enthusiasm. OK, we did elect George H.W. Bush, but it's hard to count that election since everybody was voting for a third Reagan term. When Bush the senior ran for a second term on his own merit he lost to the younger sax and sack playing Bill Clinton. And in the next election Clinton defeated the age-staggered, pen-pointing, 3rd-person-referencing Bob Dole.

Dubya's first run was an age-negated race with both candidates recent car seat graduates (and America's indecision showed with a split between the popular and electoral tallies). But when he faced a man who eerily reassembled the crypt keeper, Dubya won both the popular and E-College votes.

And now there is McCain's lose to the younger, hipper, more Holden Caulfieldish Barack Obama.

Politics aside, all sane Americans would agree that electing the first African-American President has the positive effect of providing hope to all Americans that the American Dream belongs to everyone. But as far as the age thing -- you know, given the direction this country has gone since Reagan . . . maybe we should give the old guys another chance.