President Pete Buttigieg

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First, some housekeeping.  You may call him Mayor Pete, you may call him Secretary Buttigieg, I will call him Pete, because I can.

Can Pete be elected president?  I say, unequivocally, yes.

Not one of my liberal friends agrees with me. They argue, “if a woman can’t be elected president, why do you imagine a gay man can be elected president?”  They cite the presidential election losses of Secretary Hillary Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris, as proof that a woman can’t be elected president in today’s America. My response to that tired argument is: a) Hillary led Trump in the polls from the very start of polling all the way until Election Day, b) Hillary won three million more votes than Trump, and c) while Trump held twice daily rallies in the last weeks of the campaign, Hillary hosted fund raisers.  Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!  As to Veep Harris, a) she had little time to campaign, b) she was less popular than her boss, President Joe Biden (who was so unpopular because he was the most invisible president in modern presidential history), c) she blew a friendly question on national television’s The View, and d) her choice of “Coach” Tim Walz was less inspired than John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin (what led Veep Harris to nominate him was his lack of ambition to ever challenge her, not a show of strength or self-confidence).

Indeed, in 2008 when Clinton debated Obama, I had hoped that Hillary would win the nomination, as it seemed to me that it would be much easier for Americans to elect a woman (as women represented more than 50% of the voting public) than a Black man (when Blacks represented 15% of our voting public).    I don’t know if I was right or wrong, because we can’t run the 2008 election over again. 

Those of you who have seen Pete on the tube, live or on a YouTube clip, just making a speech or debating somebody on Fox News, know how formidable a debater he is.  And you will probably agree with me that any Republican opponent of his would do well to opt out of any televised debates for the 2028 presidential election.

Many of you believe that Pete is too damn smart, and that he doesn’t talk the talk of the common man the way that Trump does. But that’s an abstract argument. Those of you who have seen him perform in front of a crowd know full well that the crowd has no problem with his intellect.  He lifts them up and they feel good about it. 

My final argument is how excruciatingly fit he is to be president, if anyone has ever been. I have borrowed or stolen his life before politics from Wikipedia; I dare you not to be impressed.

Buttigieg was valedictorian of his high school’s class, he was voted senior class president and chosen “Most Likely to be U.S. President.”  He won first prize in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum's Profiles in Courage essay contest (his subject was the integrity and political courage of independent Congressman Bernie Sanders!).  He was chosen to be a delegate to the United States Senate Youth Program, an annual scholarship competition. 

Buttigieg attended Harvard, he became president of the Student Advisory Committee of the Harvard Institute of Politics, he graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. 

Buttigieg won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford.  He became editor of the Oxford International Review and was a co-founder and member of the Democratic Renaissance Project, an informal debate and discussion group.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in philosophy, politics, and economics.

Finally, unlike draft dodger Donald, Pete enlisted in the Navy Reserve and did time in Afghanistan with a counterterrorism unit that targeted Taliban insurgency financing.

And then there is Pete’s politics!   He was elected Mayor in 2011 with 74% of the vote, and again in 2015 with 80% of the vote, coming out as gay before his second election.  What a beginning.

For those of you who have seen him debate, can you imagine any Democrat besting him in a primary debate on national television?  Or any Republican?  Do you still think Pete can’t be elected president?  Wouldn't you help him win the presidency?   Gotcha!