I hate to be a nitpicker, but Politico is getting its generations mixed up:
Obama is the first Gen X Presidential candidate — for better and for worse.
He's the son of a baby boomer — his mother, Anne, was born in 1942 — and although his birth in 1961 puts him slightly ahead of the textbook mid-1960s start date of Gen X, he is the same age as the man who coined the term "Generation X," author Douglas Coupland.
That's a great story of generational torch-passing -- or it would be, if it were true. The Baby Boom generation is generally described as being composed of those born between 1946 and 1964. Obama is the boomer, although a late one (sometimes called Generation Jones; their early experiences do have more in common with Gen. X than with the boomers). Three years is not "slightly."
Being born in 1942, Anne was a member of the Silent Generation, not the Baby Boom generation. If McCain is elected, the torch will be passed from a Baby Boomer to a member of the Silent Generation. Whoops -- wrong direction, torch-passers!
