Dan Weston's comment on Obama's speech in Richmond that I posted yesterday:
Barack Obama is the real deal. He didn't have to put "gay or straight" into his one-America litany. His gay support is up there with his black support. Nor does he speed through it, lower or raise his voice for it, wince inwardly, or otherwise pander or gloss over. His is not an expression of support, but of acknowledgment.
Not only is he post-racial, he is post-sexual-orientation. Former German Chancellor Kohl once spoke enviously of young Germans and their "Gnade der späten Geburt" ("grace of late birth"), unencumbered by baggage before they were born.
Similarly, few baby boomers (much less older folks) can move freely through the jungle of gender identity and sexual orientation, nor navigate shifting and self-defined gender roles without sexist impulses or defensive self-righteousness, the way young people can. Obama is truly the voice of a new generation.
I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary, but I confess I do not miss her trading on the sexism of her opponents or triangulation on wedge issues. If she had had the self-confidence to ignore the ignorance of her enemies and move on, the country might have moved on with her. But she (and I) are a product of our times, and we can only look on with envy as others get beyond what our generation cannot seem to get past.
More pearls from Dan are available at the most misleadingly named blog on the Web: Rantings of a Crazed Lunatic.
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