The first decade of the 21st century was a crazy bookend to the twentieth, opening with a second Pearl Harbor and ending with a second Great Crash, with a second Vietnam wedged in between.
The parallels are not exact, but damn that is a good summation of the first decade of the 21st century.
UPDATE: found another good quote:
This isn’t conservatism; it’s a going-out-of-business sale for the baby-boom generation.
http://nymag.com/news/politics/conservatives-david-frum-2011-11/index.html