Yes, the younger people are disconnected with much. In addition to being often naive, they grew up in the 1980s, which was after the energy crises (if we say all people born after the Iranian revolution and its energy shock) and after the zenith of liberalism and the worst of its failures resulted in changes that we have seen since the 1980 election, particuarly that of Reagan. Only the naive young have an unlimited faith and body of assumptions about the guaranteed and inevitable magic that government, especially Washington, can achieve. (Overreach once more will be, or should be, properly admonished by a repetition of the 1994 elections and a Democratic White House forced to concede substantially to its opposition. I can only imagine the shattered reaction among Obama groupies the first time it would happen with a President Obama.) They never lived through the ambitious Great Society years, the widespread riots and disruptions, radicalism of liberalism and even of the Democratic Party, and the failures that nobody sensible expects to repeat since 1980. They have not lived in, or through, any of this.

It's with McCain that I believe we can confidently arrive at conclusions before things conclude, you might say. I don't think McCain stands a chance against Obama and even with all her negatives, McCain would likely lose to Clinton as well. Disenchantment with the GOP, which was registered in 2006, shows no signs of diminishing. The lastest Pew report I read showed the Dems leading the GOP by double-digit margins on nine of twelve issues of concern to voters this year. This looks even more strong for the Dems this year than it did for Al Gore up until his self-destruction in the debates (almost to election day!) in 2000. People underestimate how many people will vote for McCain, particularly if Clinton is the Dems' eventual nominee, but I believe it will not be enough to overcome how so many feel about the current GOP in Washington (not merely the Bush Administration).

But right now the neglect (and as we see, a lot of the abuse otherwise directed at Bush and anyone who isn't fully filled with hatred for Bush) is reserved mainly for Clinton and her underestimated voters.

Also, I seriously disagree that McCain thinks he has the franchise on patiotism. I'm sure many in the GOP feel that way, but one of the reasons I've like McCain is that he doesn't make wild blanket assertions like that. Unlike so many of his fellow republicans every time they want a cheap shot sound bite.

Obama came of political age in the early 1980s when America was not at war. As a political Gen. Xer – and the first of that generation – his patriotism cannot be judged on the basis of experience in wartime. It must be examined differently. Whatever one concludes about the merits of Obama's personal story as an example of patriotism – or in the case of his most vicious critics lack thereof – one cannot escape the obvious generational difference between Obama and McCain. This is the starkest age gap in US Presidential history.

In a change election youth helps. In a change election youth reinforces a new direction and new ideas. In a change election youth inspires turnout among younger voters. The last election of this sort was in 1960. We've had other change elections – 1992, 1980, 1976, 1968 – but nothing so defined by generational difference. That will be the story.