Keller @ Large: Baby Boomers In The White House
BOSTON (CBS) -- Just when you thought we might escape the clutches of the "me" generation, the Baby Boomers born between 1945 and 1965, it appears they are poised for another four to eight years of wretched political leadership.
After last night's blowout wins in New York, Hillary Clinton, born in 1947, and Donald Trump, born in 1946, are in the driver's seat for their party nominations. Silent Generation holdover Bernie Sanders (born 1941) gave it a good try, and Generation Xer Ted Cruz (1970) could still pull it off at the GOP convention in July.
But barring a relative miracle, it'll be another Boomer in the White House come next January, adding to the mostly-dreadful legacy established by the first three Boomer presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama.
All share the generation's fatal flaw – a narcissistic streak that complicates their work when it doesn't outright undermine it.
With Bill Clinton, we got a brilliant political mind, but also inappropriate personal appetites and sketchy character.
George W. Bush was understandably furious when he learned Saddam Hussein wanted to assassinate his father, but did we really need to go to war over that?
And President Obama's ends-justify-the-means approach to healthcare reform was an unfortunate choice.
"The personal is political," they used to say back in the 1960s, and unfortunately that makes for bad governance when Boomer pols apply it.
Let's hope Trump and Clinton aren't more of the same.
Listen to Jon's commentary: