Instead, it was about electability and whether the country was ready to vote for a black or female president.
Needless to say, we got our answer.
I was at a political fundraiser earlier this year, again nestled in among several longtime donors with deep pockets. President Trump was not viewed favorably by this crowd and much of the conversation wasn’t about the Mueller report, the trade war we are engaged in or policies touted by the people vying to take Trump’s place.
Instead, it was about electability and whether the country was ready for an openly gay president.
It makes sense that the millionaires in these spaces would hedge their bets based on the most pragmatic of questions: Can this person win? After all, a person doesn’t get to be a one percenter by making a habit of investing in companies they don’t believe will turn a profit.
But I couldn’t ignore the irony of hearing so many blue-state-living/rainbow-flag-adjacent /”love-is-love” liberals in one room dismiss Pete Buttigieg’s bid for the White House largely because he’s gay, even from those within the LGBTQ community.
Would this war vet who offered condolences to the people of France in French after the devastating Notre Dame fire be the front-runner if he weren’t married to a man? Given his relative youth and position as the mayor of a small city, would he have graced the cover of Time magazine if he were not?
For all of the chatter about downplaying identity politics in the hope of rebuilding the blue wall in the Midwest, it has been my experience that despite the fact Buttigieg is a fairly successful elected official from the Midwest, it is precisely his identity as a gay man that gives many Democrats the greatest pause.
A key difference here is that only Mayor Pete is being dismissed for who he loves by some of the very people who claim no one should be dismissed for who they love.
The Democrats can call it pragmatism, they can call it being politically savvy, they can call it playing the odds… just as long as they are also being honest about the nature of the friendly fire directed at Buttigieg’s candidacy. Again, if his executive inexperience or lack of substantive policy talking points were the main question marks, I would not have felt compelled to write this. But that’s not what I’m hearing.
Yes, there is a legitimate question about whether or to the country is ready to elect a gay president. But there is also a legitimate question about whether Democrats — for all their talk — believe it’s worth fighting for one.
Source : Nbcnewyork