Wow, how condescending of him. You see? You Gen-X'ers aren't as "smart" as Ribuffo and his fellow hippy-dippy Baby Boomers who passed the joint while demonstrating against "the man". Watch out, Ribuffo, your Liberalism is showing. Sheesh.
Yeah, no kidding. "The kids these days aren't noble and idealistic like we were back in the 70's." You betcha. Mind you, he's right, and by the way, have I ever told you about how I had to walk 10 miles through the snow to and from school with no shoes, and it was uphill both ways? You betcha. ;-)
The absence of a draft is a huge difference, of course. And the Cold War is over, and the lushly-funded Soviet propaganda campaign has been taken over by a few feeble Euro media goose-steppers. But the biggest reason my antiwar friends (and I have a few) aren't in the streets is because deep down, however much they hate Bush (and they do) the honest ones have to admit that Saddam really was a monster the world is better off without. Uncle Ho wasn't seen as a repressive monster until after 1975, and most of the fervent antiwar types resolutely turned their eyes from it. Those who didn't, Joan Baez being one, were just as resolutely ostracized. Saddam had a track record and a huge number of inconvenient witnesses, including many of the antiwar folks's good guys: Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, etc.
One additional factor in my opinion was the backlash that took place in the 80's and beyond toward the unbelievably unjust treatment accorded returning Vietnam veterans by a "victorious" left. We won't be making that mistake again for at least a generation, although Lord knows they're trying.