Euphemisms abound when trying to come up with reasons not to like Pete Buttigieg. Sister Amy Klobuchar keeps harping on his "inexperience." Joe Biden has started to mock it, hoping to channel his Lloyd Bentsen moment. At least Bernie Sanders went after Pete's "wine cave" donations. But, they are all hinting at the same thing - Pete won't win because no one will vote for an openly gay president.
That might have been the case ten or twenty years ago, but today being gay is no longer a liability. We have our first openly gay governor, and we have a whole host of LGBT members in Congress. Mainstream Americans obviously no longer seem to mind, but when you are looking for faults the unprecedented nature of Mayor Pete's run raises eyebrows.
The young former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is by far the most articulate of all the candidates, he also appears to be the least ruffled by attacks. The guy is unflappable, and he's banking on that to carry him through this nomination process.
Bernie and Liz have topped out at 35 per cent. That's their voting share in Iowa and New Hampshire and it's not likely to get much higher in other states. By contrast, 55 per cent of Democrats voted for moderate candidates in Pete, Joe and Amy. If this was a two-person race between Bernie and Pete, the young mayor would win handily, but Joe refuses to concede and Amy believes she has "Klomentum" thanks to the endless plugging on CNN. I believe it was Chris Cuomo who coined this ridiculous term.
Nevertheless, Pete continues to exceed all expectations. He was expected to be no better than third in Iowa, and even after his surprise win he wasn't expected to challenge Bernie in New Hampshire, yet he came within 1.5 percentage points of the crusty old Vermont senator, and earned the same number of delegates. Sound familiar? That's exactly what Barack Obama did in 2008.
If Pete could somehow convince Joe and Amy to join him, they could easily save the Democratic Party from the vaccuous windbag Bernie. The guy is an idealogue of the worst sort. He refuses to concede his ignorance on any point, including the term "Democratic Socialist," which he claims to be in the European mold. There are no Democratic Socialists in Europe. There are Social Democrats (a more benign term) and they lead many European countries providing the social health and welfare network he champions on the campaign trail.
European men, gay or straight, aren't afraid to kiss each other in public. Being gay is not a barrier. There are currently three openly gay prime ministers in Europe, including the Prime Minister of Ireland. President Pete would be in good company.
Bernie is so incredibly out of touch it's laughable, but like the crusty old uncle or grand dad in the family, no one says anything. He's never once shown how he would get all his progressive legislation through Congress, and this from a man who has been sitting in the Senate for 14 years. There is no way Congress will ever approve "Medicare for All," largely because we have 50 separate health care systems in this country. One for every state. Try to imagine the logistics in imposing such a comprehensive health care system on a country of 350 million people? Bernie certainly hasn't.
By contrast, Pete offers a more pragmatic approach, dare I say like that of Obama, to augment the existing health care system. Basically, all the next Democratic President has to do is strengthen the Affordable Care Act, which Trump and the Republicans have worked so hard to undermine, and most Americans will be happy.
From the get-go, our country was founded on the idea of a symbiotic relationship between government and private industry. Alexander Hamilton outlined this relationship in his Report on Manufactures submitted to Congress in 1791. There have been attempts to institute a broader federal government after the Civil War, during the Great Depression and after the Civil Rights Act. It succeeded in part, as we have a comprehensive health, education and welfare system underwritten by federal, state and local governments. It is nothing like our European allies, but it works somehow. Some states better than others.
That's the way most Americans want it, and that has been made perfectly clear in Iowa and New Hampshire. This great "revolution" Bernie promised failed to materialize at the polls. He failed to bring in any new voters beyond those he claimed to introduce in 2016. What we have are the same Bernie Bros and Sistras pitching their poorly informed idea of a socialist government overhaul that the vast majority of Americans don't want.
If Bernie had been smart, he would have tried to educate Americans as to the meaning of the health and welfare system he imagines, but what we have found out is that he is not the great professor, but just another snake oil salesman who has finally been exposed. You aren't going to make sweeping changes in this country without offering a practical path toward this new social welfare system he and his democratic socialist cohorts have championed. It's all smoke and mirrors.
Most voters have seen through it, but quite a few cling to it. So, who is the best candidate to unite the party and move forward? It certainly isn't Joe Biden, who as James Carville pointed out, "hasn't roped a cow yet," referring to his previous failed presidential runs. Amy maybe? She certainly has become the media darling in the wake of Liz Warren's collapse. The only viable candidate left is Pete Buttigieg, but no one wants to admit it, not even James Carville.
Of course, there are a few who hold out for Mike Bloomberg's triumphant entry into the race on Super Tuesday, but this will be a huge belly flop. The guy has bought tons of airtime and has managed to convince more than a few political pundits that he's the man. But, like Bernie, he's not a Democrat. He's a Republican turned Independent running as a Democrat in a pathetic attempt to draw attention to himself at the expense of Trump.
The only guy who has the temperament to be president is Pete Buttigieg. I would argue that Liz Warren and Amy Klobuchar also have the temperament to be president, but the election isn't swinging their way. It is swinging Pete's way, and the sooner we realize it the better for all of us. This is a guy Americans can unite around, at least most Americans, and send that orange-haired fop in the White House into retirement, preferably at a federal penitentiary.
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