"How can one generalize," Star writes, "about a group that is said to be politically disengaged and politically correct...technologically savvy and unconditionally ignorant, busy saving the planet and craving electricity and noise, prematurely careerist and proud to be lazy, unwilling to grow up and grown up already?"

So far, these inconsistencies have yet to faze Clinton. The motor-voter bill, which would dramatically increase access to voter registration, will likely be signed into law in the near future. The bill has been central to Rock the Vote and is expected to increase turnout among young eligible voters. The crux of the administration's youth initiative, though, is the National Service Trust Fund, a domestic peace corps which would forgive college loan debts in return for community service.

The problem, though, is that Clinton's vision of national service is self-contradictory. One the one hand, the president asserted in his campaign that the U.S. should "guarantee every American who wants a college education the means to obtain one." But he also insists on instilling an ethic of service, and selflessness, in young Americans.

It's a classic Democratic dilemma-promoting government-sponsored equality of opportunity while insisting that people must do their part. A healthy economy requires government activism, Clinton says, but also ambitious entrepreneurs. Of course, this dilemma isn't unresolvable-a healthy economy does require both elements. But finding middle ground often leaves the Democrats divided, and this division has been a major impediment to winning the White House.

With national service, the reconciliation may be even more difficult than most Small-scale programs like Boston's City Year (a favorite of Clinton's) work well, driven by both corporate sponsors and government grants. But City Year barely scrapes enough money together to pay its volunteers a small stipend.

The Washington Post estimated that it would cost at least $53,000 for each student who repaid college loans with public service, since the government would spring not just for the education, but also for the service program.

And even setting aside the money question, I'm still not convinced that it would appeal to youth in any significant way. Eli Segal, the director of Clinton's service initiative, was a featured speaker at the youth town meeting in Washington. But either the audience was turned off by his platitudes ("The Washington Post says we can't afford to do national service.") or they just didn't care. In any case, a buzz of chatter filled the hall. A teacher who had come with a group of students leaned over to me, complaining, "They aren't listening." The crowd came alive, however, to talk about the L.A. riots and foreign policy.

Its inherent contradictions aside, the goal of the National Service Trust Fund is an excellent one. It's this sort of hands-on, innovative thinking of Clinton's that won my vote in the first place. But before I speak for my generation, I think of Bush's appearance before a crowd of 1,100 young Republicans last June. "Our country," College Republican chair Tony Zagotta said, introducing Bush, "means too much to this generation before you to elect a failed governor or an egotistical gadfly." Press reports described the affair as "one of [Bush's] warmest receptions of the campaign."

Shortly after Clinton's election, a reporter from the BBC called The Crimson. "I'm researching a spot on Boston, a snapshot of a city in the Clinton era," he told me. He wanted to hear from a Harvard student, and I met him the next day for an interview. With disclaimers about my Harvard-white-Jewish-left-of-center-journalist bias, I told him about our generation--the cynicism held over from Watergate, our tepid support for Clinton, etc.

I talked a few days later to my brother, a freelance writer in Washington. "Josh," he said sarcastically, "you're my spokesman." Now, this is my brother, five years older, but as close to me in ideology and demeanor as anyone I can imagine. And even he was skeptical that I could adequately represent him. If we grew up in the '60s, perhaps, he and I would find generational alliances.

"Twenty years ago," says pollster Andrew Kohut, "we had the three As: abortion, amnesty and acid. And on those issues, there were big generational differences."

I don't see similar issues these days. Nothing is stopping Clinton from trying to capture the youth vote. But as someone who wants to see him reelected in 1996, I hope he stops thinking of us as a group, and starts thinking of us as Americans.