A big part of my blogging experience has been meeting and working with the parade of super-smart younger colleagues who lately have arrived at the Bureau. But there is a downside: upon submitting to Tanya my “biography,” I received a return note suggesting that her Dad and I would have a lot to talk about.

Word of this crushing blow spread fast. As I wandered aimlessly through the hallways, male co-workers approached sympathetically: “There, there,” said one, patting me on the shoulder. “This happens to every man some day,” added another.

Sadly enough, though, I think Tanya’s on to something. I do believe that shared experience shapes generational outlook. Arguably younger people can in general be more idealistic, and more disillusioned when their hopes are dashed. My Dad, for instance, believes along with many Americans his age that John F. Kennedy was a leader nonpareil and that our nation was damaged irrevocably by his death. Back in the Miocene Era, I held similar views about President Ronald Reagan, who differed politically from JFK but shared Kennedy’s idealistic temperament and ability to inspire. My point’s not a political one, but rather a suggestion that age cohorts can differ in how they perceive leaders, issues, and events.

[image src="http://photos.state.gov/libraries/amgov/4110/pod/042909_AP081105043178_300.jpg" caption="Members of the younger generation celebrating Barack Obama's election" align="left"]Today, many of my younger colleagues and their peers are heavily invested—both intellectually and emotionally—in the success of the new Obama Administration. As a patriotic American, I also want my new President to succeed, but at an age where I’ve more in common with Tanya’s dad, I am a bit more detached about the obstacles to what my colleagues call “change.” With James Madison, I view obstacles as “interests,” and consider their clash the sound of republican government at work. I do retain a bit of my youthful idealism, though, and hope the kids won’t lose theirs if this does not prove quite the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.

If generational differences encompass style, taste, and temperament (one example: loud and very personal cell phone conversations on public transportation—have these young ‘uns no shame?), they also can reflect diverging interests, and thus pose a real challenge to democratic governance.

More on this tomorrow….