When Gene Rutherford, 65, tries to make sense of the meteoric rise of Barack Obama, and the rampant enthusiasm for him among younger Americans, he thinks of the local mall, where as director of operations he often deals with teenagers.
“Kids today have been given everything they want, and don’t have to work for it. They have no respect for authority,” said Rutherford, standing at the bar at the Elks lodge here. “They’ll make remarks right to the face of the [mall] cops. I get to the point where I want to do something,” he said, cocking a fist as if to threaten a punch. “But the police say we can’t, that we just have to stand there.” It makes him worry for the country. “I see it going the Roman way.”