they came of age in the 1960s and <u+2019>70s, in the traumatic aftermath of the assassinations of john f. kennedy and the rev. dr. martin luther king jr. they fought and protested a war together, argued over nixon and kissinger together, laughed at archie bunker together. as children, they practiced air-raid drills; as adults, they cheered the fall of the berlin wall . in the 1990s, they saw one of their own become president, watching him gain glory as one of the most gifted politicians of his time, but also infamy as one of its most self-indulgent <u+2014> a poster child for the me generation. they are of course the baby boomers, the collective offspring of the most fertile period in american history. at 75 million strong, they have been the most dominant force in american life for three decades, and one of its most maligned. enlightened but self-centered, introspective but reckless, they are known among the cohorts that followed them <u+2014> and even to some boomers themselves <u+2014> as the generation that failed to live up to its lofty ideals, but still held fast to its sense of superiority. if bill clinton was their white-haired id, hillary clinton is their superego in a pantsuit. a second clinton presidency could represent a last hurrah for the baby boomers. but it could also offer a shot at a kind of generational redemption. <u+201c>there is a kind of do-over quality to it,<u+201d> said landon y. jones, the author of the 1980 book <u+201c>great expectations: america and the baby boom generation.<u+201d> <u+201c>this is their last chance to get it right.<u+201d> a shared history binds the boomers <u+2014> as do, broadly speaking, some shared traits. their parents suffered through the depression and world war ii before rearing them in the most prosperous society the world had ever seen. inevitably, perhaps, they were guided by two polestars: responsibility and entitlement. those dueling impulses powered the rise of both clintons: one impulse galvanizing supporters who deeply admired their commitment to public service, the other galling critics who saw them as playing by their own rules. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s this tremendous idealism with the clintons <u+2014> actually living social change, embodying social change,<u+201d> said gil troy, the author of <u+201c>the age of clinton: america in the 1990s<u+201d> and a history professor at mcgill university in montreal. <u+201c>but also, at the end of day, not just having this will to power, but also being so convinced of their own self-righteousness that they improvise a new set of morality and ethics.<u+201d> like her husband<u+2019>s, mrs. clinton<u+2019>s political odyssey began in earnest when she volunteered for george mcgovern<u+2019>s youth-powered 1972 presidential bid, one that ended in a lopsided, welcome-to-adulthood takedown of <u+2019>60s idealism at the hands of president richard m. nixon and his <u+201c>silent majority.<u+201d> it was there, in the trenches, that the clintons <u+2014> still in their mid-20s, and not yet married <u+2014> began to assemble the network of trusted friends that continues to surround them. twenty years later, at 46, bill clinton became the third-youngest president ever elected. at 69, hillary clinton would be the second-oldest. in many respects, her journey has become her generation<u+2019>s journey <u+2014> from protester to parent and now grandparent, from earnest idealist to battle-hardened realist. they would be bookends on their cohort, one seizing the national stage on behalf of their generation in its prime, the other, who now qualifies for medicare , vying to lead it into its dotage. of course, the presidential election has featured not one but two members of the generation born between 1946 and 1964. and just as the clintons grew out of the campus left, donald j. trump traces his political following, if not his own formation, to that generation<u+2019>s nixon voters: those who did not protest, or even attend college; who preferred elvis to the beatles, sinatra to santana, the familiar to the foreign, order to upheaval. (though at this point, what was once the counterculture has become the culture: mr. trump has been known to play the rolling stones at events.) if mr. trump does not fit the profile of the searching, liberal, conflicted boomer, well, blame the liberal boomers whose cultural contributions crystallized that image, most memorably in <u+201c>the big chill.<u+201d> (they also created its counter-counterculture foil: think of mr. trump <u+2014> thin-skinned, red-faced, schooled in uniform <u+2014> as the r.o.t.c. commander douglas c. neidermeyer in <u+201c>animal house.<u+201d>) the most enduring boomer icons, however, sprang not from a hollywood script but from yale law school and the arkansas statehouse. standing under the balloons at madison square garden in 1992 <u+2014> with fleetwood mac<u+2019>s <u+201c>don<u+2019>t stop<u+201d> blaring <u+2014> the clintons sent a clear message to their peers: yesterday<u+2019>s gone. our time is now. and also, maybe, now. not much remains of the we-can-change-the-world optimism that swept in with the new administration in 1993, and maybe with good reason. the great accomplishments of mr. clinton<u+2019>s presidency <u+2014> peace and its anticipated dividends, a surging economy, shrinking budget deficits <u+2014> were washed away. as some boomers sent their kids to college, others sent their sons and daughters off to fight in a seemingly permanent conflict halfway around the globe. if elected, mrs. clinton would inherit the islamic state, an ever-widening income gap, partisan gridlock and a populace so polarized and full of loathing that it seems to be segregating. her husband had it easy by comparison. it<u+2019>s no fun getting old. not that mrs. clinton is complaining. she has embraced her longevity, beginning a recent rally in pueblo, colo., with a callback to her last visit there. <u+201c>i know there are a lot of really young people here,<u+201d> she said, <u+201c>but was anybody here back in 1992?<u+201d> cheers shot up from some of the gathering<u+2019>s elders. people have been hurrying the clintons<u+2019> generation off the stage for a while: time magazine declared the <u+201c>twilight of the boomers<u+201d> in a headline in 2000. even then, the nation was suffering from boomer fatigue. <u+201c>long-awaited baby boomer die-off to begin soon, experts say,<u+201d> the onion teased , imagining <u+201c>a glorious new world in which no one will ever again have to endure tales of joan baez<u+2019>s performance at woodstock.<u+201d> in 2008, barack obama, though born at the tail end of the generation in 1961, consciously styled himself as younger, saying that americans were tired of <u+201c>the psychodrama of the baby boom generation,<u+201d> that they hungered for <u+201c>a different kind of politics.<u+201d> no doubt. and yet in many ways, the 2016 election has served as a rematch between two boomer factions: one candidate promising a 1950s-flavored throwback to an idealized postwar america at its most muscular, the other sounding the familiar liberal call to tear down whatever societal barriers still stand. mrs. clinton is a long way from the 1969 commencement speaker who told her wellesley classmates that the challenge for their generation was to <u+201c>practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.<u+201d> she is now more likely to warn of the perils of overpromising. <u+201c>we don<u+2019>t need any more of that,<u+201d> she says. but the battles of the <u+2019>60s are never far from mrs. clinton<u+2019>s mind. even a september speech to students at temple university in philadelphia featured a reference to her struggles during the vietnam war. in the fight for the soul of the boomers, mrs. clinton holds a slight upper hand: a recent new york times/cbs news poll showed her with an edge over mr. trump, 48 percent to 42 percent, among likely voters in their generation. the difference was within the poll<u+2019>s margin of error. as much as they were inspired by mr. clinton and exhilarated by mr. obama, her peers appear to be turning to her to supply the grown-up voice of reason a fractious country needs. <u+201c>i think at this point in history, it<u+2019>s crucial that we have someone who understands the long view,<u+201d> said the actress jamie lee curtis, who was born in 1958 and has been campaigning for mrs. clinton. <u+201c>i think we<u+2019>re a nation in trouble.<u+201d> they remain a powerful voting bloc. though millennials are now the most populous living generation, they lack the boomers<u+2019> electoral punch. according to the pew research center, fewer than half of eligible millennial voters said they voted in 2012. turnout among boomers was nearly 70 percent. this is mrs. clinton<u+2019>s demographic sweet spot. her stump speeches are liberally salted with mentions of her grandchildren; her platform includes opposing efforts to cut social security benefits and raise the retirement age. and a volunteer army of boomer celebrities, some of whom have known the clintons since the 1990s, are working on her behalf, including the actress mary steenburgen and her husband, ted danson. another is rob reiner, who played the lefty student michael stivic on <u+201c>all in the family<u+201d> and says he feels that the bigotry sent up on that sitcom has flared back up with a vengeance. <u+201c>we are living in <u+2018>all in the family<u+2019> right now,<u+201d> mr. reiner said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a daily reality show that stars donald trump as archie bunker.<u+201d> if those old characters were still around, archie would probably be blaming michael for everything from free trade to illegal immigration to the country<u+2019>s sky-high divorce rate. and michael would be taking credit for gay marriage, a black president and bob dylan<u+2019>s nobel prize . for all the steep challenges that await, if mrs. clinton is elected, she will at least have the chance to pursue a new set of progressive causes. to address and amend aspects of her husband<u+2019>s political legacy. and to reshape america<u+2019>s image of a generation and the couple that has come to embody it. matt flegenheimer contributed reporting. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter . a version of this article appears in print on november 7, 2016, on page a15 of the new york edition with the headline: in sunset of the baby boom generation, the election reawakens an old divide. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
in boomers<u+2019> sunset, election reawakens an old divide
jonathan mahler