Gergen, at HLS, views ’08 candidates through generational filter
David Gergen
May 9, 2008
Calling this year’s campaign “the most fascinating race here in this country in a half century,” political analyst David Gergen '67 said the campaign’s robust quality has captured the world’s attention.
Gergen, a senior political analyst for CNN and professor of public policy at the Kennedy School, gave his take on the elections during a luncheon event at Harvard Law School’s reunion weekend.
“What’s really interesting to me is how caught up the rest of the world is,” said Gergen, who consults with international political leaders as director of Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership. He said that at recent events in Canada and Europe, he was repeatedly told how envious foreign citizens are of the enthusiasm in this political campaign – which has helped restore some of America’s lost luster.
“Whoever gets elected, there is an appreciation now that we are breaking down the barriers to race and ethnicity and gender in terms of who can succeed,” said Gergen, noting that any one of the final three candidates is going to make history, including John McCain, who would be the first prisoner of war to become president.
Gergen, who served as an adviser to four U.S. presidents (Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton) said the leaders who ran the country from 1960 to 1992 were young men during World War II and part of a generation whose political differences were transcended by a sense of common sacrifice. Recent leaders like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and George Bush, he said, are part of a generation that came of age during a time of rebellion, during the 60s and 70s, which brought about tremendous change, but which also fractured that generation, particularly around the issue of war service.
“This generation that has come since then doesn’t have all those old scars. I think a lot of the divisions we had during the 60s and 70s, we brought to Washington and that has deepened the polarization—greatly,” said Gergen. “I think one of the things Barack [Obama ’91] represents is he is post that generation. He doesn’t have any of those hang-ups of that generation. And, strikingly, John McCain is prior to that generation.”
During her introduction, Dean Elena Kagan ’86 praised Gergen’s career in the White House and his current directorship at the Kennedy School, saying: “He thinks and writes and teaches about what makes for effective leadership in the White House and in other arenas. At the intersection of policy and politics and communications, you will find no one more knowledgeable—and no one more sensible—than David Gergen.”
Watch a webcast of David Gergen’s appearance. (RealPlayer required.)