Here's something worth discussing in 2301 as we investigate political conflict. The dispute over health care reform has revealed a growing generational gap between older voters who are opposed to it -- and the Obama Presidency in general -- and younger voters who are not:
. . . Older Americans are more likely to oppose Mr. Obama’s initiative than any other age group. The White House views this dynamic as one of the biggest obstacles to tamping down public concerns about its approach and assembling a legislative coalition to get a bill passed in Congress.
Older voters were one of the few groups Mr. Obama did not win in the presidential election last year, leaving him and his party particularly reliant on younger voters, who do not show up at the polls as reliably as older people do. They have a dimmer view of his presidency than the rest of the nation.
And there is no reason to think that whatever tensions have been unearthed with this fight are going to end once it is resolved. Mr. Obama has signaled his intention to tackle the long-term financial problems of Social Security, another issue the elderly play an outsize role in, and they tend to be resistant to change there, too.
