Beyond 68
11:28am Monday, 7th January 2008
Is Barack Obama's real significance the fact the he was too young to be on the frontlines in 1968? There's a pretty convincing argument in this week's Economist that we're witnessing the moment when American politics moves beyond the culture wars of the hippie generation and becomes, well, something else.
Of course, the real influence of the culture wars on the American public is easy to overstate - but there's no doubt that the legacy of the 60s has had a huge influence on the political classes. The Republicans have basically been promising to protect America from crazy liberals ever since Nixon.
Obama, with his sunny optimism, promises of unity and incredible self-belief, seems to offer something quite distinct.
Does it mean anything for British politics? Maybe. There's definitely a generational shift happening at the moment, and a slow acceptance that we need a new kind of politics in the UK.
The legacy of 68 for Britain is twofold. Socially, it was about the politics of personal liberation, which would find their true expression in the free market liberalism of the 80s and 90s - Thatcher was the biggest hippie in this respect. Politically, it shackled the left with a preoccupation with the economy and some rather unappealing Marxist baggage that was only really shaken off in the 1990s.
Oliver Letwin, of all people, has probably offered the best analysis of the resulting changes in the political climate. The economic consensus that emerged in the 90s shifted the politics of the left significantly away from a concern with economic 'root causes' to a concern with dealing with the social impact of a free market system.
Of course, this is territory that the Conservatives have occupied for a long time - remember 'back to basics'? But it's taken a Cameron to make this look less like life-denying sermonising and more like handing power back to civil society.
Letwin's idea of a shift to a more 'socio-centric' form of politics is about the most convincing rallying cry I've heard for a new way of doing business - one that shakes off the baggage of the 68 generation and tries to find new ways of combining social cohesion with free market economics.
Does this mean Cameron could be Britain's Barack? I'm not sure - the Tories still have a lot of very unappealing moralistic baggage, and a collection of front benchers and party members who are stlll a little too swivel-eyed about topics like immigration and Europe. In our non-presidential system, the craziness or otherwise of your party still matters. Plus it's hard for an old Etonian PR professional to play the outsider card that Obama deploys so well.
But despite his promising announcements about the NHS and a good start on the constitution, Gordon Brown has been far too busy failing at the old politics to offer anything new. The election is still his to lose, but he needs to pull something pretty spectacular out of the bag.
Of course, the real influence of the culture wars on the American public is easy to overstate - but there's no doubt that the legacy of the 60s has had a huge influence on the political classes. The Republicans have basically been promising to protect America from crazy liberals ever since Nixon.
Obama, with his sunny optimism, promises of unity and incredible self-belief, seems to offer something quite distinct.
Does it mean anything for British politics? Maybe. There's definitely a generational shift happening at the moment, and a slow acceptance that we need a new kind of politics in the UK.
The legacy of 68 for Britain is twofold. Socially, it was about the politics of personal liberation, which would find their true expression in the free market liberalism of the 80s and 90s - Thatcher was the biggest hippie in this respect. Politically, it shackled the left with a preoccupation with the economy and some rather unappealing Marxist baggage that was only really shaken off in the 1990s.
Oliver Letwin, of all people, has probably offered the best analysis of the resulting changes in the political climate. The economic consensus that emerged in the 90s shifted the politics of the left significantly away from a concern with economic 'root causes' to a concern with dealing with the social impact of a free market system.
Of course, this is territory that the Conservatives have occupied for a long time - remember 'back to basics'? But it's taken a Cameron to make this look less like life-denying sermonising and more like handing power back to civil society.
Letwin's idea of a shift to a more 'socio-centric' form of politics is about the most convincing rallying cry I've heard for a new way of doing business - one that shakes off the baggage of the 68 generation and tries to find new ways of combining social cohesion with free market economics.
Does this mean Cameron could be Britain's Barack? I'm not sure - the Tories still have a lot of very unappealing moralistic baggage, and a collection of front benchers and party members who are stlll a little too swivel-eyed about topics like immigration and Europe. In our non-presidential system, the craziness or otherwise of your party still matters. Plus it's hard for an old Etonian PR professional to play the outsider card that Obama deploys so well.
But despite his promising announcements about the NHS and a good start on the constitution, Gordon Brown has been far too busy failing at the old politics to offer anything new. The election is still his to lose, but he needs to pull something pretty spectacular out of the bag.
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