Generational Warfare Finds a New Dance Step

Partisan warfare and class warfare, move over. Generational warfare is back ... well, at least tongue-in-cheek needling is.

And who better to lead the charge for the 20- and 30-somethings than a cranky octogenarian?

That would be Alan Simpson, former U.S. senator and co-chair of President Obama's bipartisan debt commission. He appears in a new video to help a group called The Can Kicks Back draw attention to its cause: reducing the $16.3 trillion federal debt that the millennial generation could inherit. Apparently the group thought having a guy walk around the U.S. Capitol in a soda can costume (with a pop-top hat) wasn't doing the job.

In the video Simpson and the soda-can guy weakly mimic the "Gangnam-style" routine made famous by Korean pop star Psy.

Then Simpson delivers the zinger: "Boy, these old coots will clean out the Treasury before you get there."

Congress and the White House are sorting out whether the fiscal cliff presents a can too big to be kicked. Taxes go up and spending gets cut automatically at the start of the year if they can't find a better solution to reduce the nation's debt.

The manifesto of the nonpartisan The Can Kicks Back: "Young Americans have the most to lose if Washington keeps kicking the can down the road, and our future along with it. We believe it's time we kick back and demand a solution to our $16 trillion and growing national debt."

The next time your children or grandchildren tell you that you've embarrassed them, remind them Alan Simpson's grandchildren have it worse. At least you're not on the Internet pretending to ride a horse next to a guy dressed like a giant can of soda.