So here is some analysis you won’t hear from political commentators:
a HUGE part of the alignment around Joe Biden is not a young/old split. It’s a convergence in the middle.
Biden’s surprise blowout margins yesterday came from America’s redhead stepchild: Gen X. 1/12
a HUGE part of the alignment around Joe Biden is not a young/old split. It’s a convergence in the middle.
Biden’s surprise blowout margins yesterday came from America’s redhead stepchild: Gen X. 1/12
If you dig into the exit polls, you will see that Biden won Gen X in EVERY category, across race and gender. We don’t usually roll this tight in primaries. There’s usually some cleavage, along at least one of those divisions. 2/12
Now I’ve been saying since Hillary lost that I wanted a Gen X candidate in 2020. I figured it would be our one shot to get ours in between a long line of Boomers and a long line of Millennials. And we had AMAZING Gen X candidates. 3/12
But every time one of “our” candidates got a little shine, Russian disinfo and bad faith attacks kneecapped them. Kamala was a cop (a lie). Beto was tight with Big Oil (a lie). And the pattern repeated until almost all the Gen X candidates were cleared from the field. 4/12
Some of us were onboard with Amy as our last Xer. Some were down with Xennial Pete. Some had moved on to Warren, Biden, or Bloomberg. And some were Sanders supporters.
But those of us who just hadn’t made up our minds yet? Well, that’s where Sanders “outreach” went wrong. 5/12
But those of us who just hadn’t made up our minds yet? Well, that’s where Sanders “outreach” went wrong. 5/12
It probably didn’t help the Sanders Gen X outreach pitch to have hoards of young (and not-so-young) supporters flooding our social media, berating us at family gatherings, and haranguing us via podcasts & blogs to “bend the knee.” Threatening us with guillotines. Doxxing us. 6/12
It probably didn’t help to spend years pretending that a bunch of people who prefer the German/ Swiss approach to universal healthcare “want people to die.”
It didn’t help to tell people for whom the 2000 election was a pivotal event that “the DNC rigged 2016.” 7/12
It didn’t help to tell people for whom the 2000 election was a pivotal event that “the DNC rigged 2016.” 7/12
It didn’t help to dismiss the SIGNIFICANT achievements of the Obama administration, like the ACA, marriage equality, saving a country on the brink of economic collapse, and myriad progressive reforms that we’d invested OUR youths in. 8/12
So when Amy, Pete, and Beto collectively endorsed Biden, it wasn’t “The Establishment” or the big, bad DNC giving marching orders to “low info voters.”
But it WAS a collective Gen X Seal of Approval for Uncle Joe. THIS IS OUR CAMPAIGN, TOO. 9/12
But it WAS a collective Gen X Seal of Approval for Uncle Joe. THIS IS OUR CAMPAIGN, TOO. 9/12
We wanted a younger, more progressive candidate. We wanted someone who reflected our generation - and our country’s - diversity. We will have that in our VP. We will have that in our Cabinet and our Court picks. But Joe is our best remaining choice to build that coalition. 10/12
And the thing is, we want EVERYBODY to come along with us. Millennials, we love your energy and humor. Zoomers, we love your hope and idealism. Boomers, we love your experience and wisdom. Gen X knows and loves you all.
We’ll make fun of you, but we’re here for you! 11/12
We’ll make fun of you, but we’re here for you! 11/12
So I truly hope that everyone finds a place in this campaign. It isn’t the race ANY of us intended, but I think it has the potential to be something wonderful because of that. Joe is a truly decent man. We can build around that. We can make space for everyone. Peace.
12/12
12/12
