Aging Anglo Males
By John Van Becay
When Elizabeth Warren announced her decision to drop out of the Democratic primary race, NPR covered it like a state funeral. Nothing has changed bemoaned one reporter, Presidential politics will always be old white men. Lisa Lerer’s article in the New York Times titled Was It Always Going to be the Last Man Standing? begins, “In the end, the pink wave carried two white men ashore.” It is convenient to posit sexism and misogyny brought us Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. But Michael Bloomberg is the poster boy for old white men and he is gone. So is Tom Steyer. So are the younger men, the minorities and the women. None survived the bloodletting.
The Democratic party will elect a woman U.S. president. But not this time. For 2020 there is a greater priority–defeating Donald Trump. Bernie and Joe brought the experience, the money, the campaign organization to the battle. They are old and scarred because they’ve done this for decades. And, they are good at what they do. Allegations of anti-feminist bias have riddled the Democratic primaries. But more women ran in 2020 than ever before. None could muster the support. Delegates decided either Sanders or Biden are better equipped to slug it out with Trump. Glass ceiling politics did not tilt this field. The other candidates simply didn’t pack enough heat. Four more years of Trump will be far harder on women than not having a female President.
As a leading academic Elizabeth Warren epitomized the radicalization of the professional class, especially women. But her Medicare for All freaked even her staunchest supporters and drove them toward the center. Warren had loyal support among select black women and Latinas, but not a broader appeal to the larger minority. She spent too much time steam rolling Michael Bloomberg on the debate stage. Her anti-wealth, anti-entitlement cornerstone, which more and more voters had come to embrace, started sounding vengeful and demonizing. Her clear eyed vision promoting women, children and minorities would have been time better spent. Warren would be an epic president, but was her clarion call to family, minority, and the under privileged enough to defeat Trump? Not enough delegates thought so. The question was not the worth of a woman candidate, it was the strength of the message. It was the prospect of 4 more years of Republican rule.
Pete Buttigieg, 39, took the old out of the old white man jibe, but not the white. His almost total lack of appeal to African American and Latino voters sank his campaign. Every Democratic President since Roosevelt has had the black vote. Without it, you don’t win. For Pete, minority support stayed away in droves. On the national stage Buttigieg is the captain of the debate team. Watching him field questions, turn a phrase, land on his feet every time, is a joy unto itself. But it verges on the slick and could well antagonize blue-collar America. Suspicion of knowledge and education is the sorry status quo in the 21st century. Sadly, it shows no sign of slowing down. The Dumbing of America is the great Republican ally and vital to their agenda. Lock step sloganeering and fear mongering does not play to an educated, judicious base. Republicans depend upon the wisdom of the crowd to shout down intelligence in any public debate, from city council meeting to the national stage. Against the Republican strength Mr. Buttigieg would be left mouthing a lot of pretty words while gyring in the wind.
Amy Klobuchar centrist message and “happy scrappy” campaign got her further than most thought. But her hit-or-miss campaigning and lack of funds handicapped her. Her overzealous prosecution of blacks and immigrants and her declining to file charges in over 2 dozen officer related fatalities while she was the chief prosecutor in Minneapolis kneecapped her. She has less appeal to minorities than Pete Buttigieg, if that is possible, and the NAACP and others called her out on her dubious conviction of a 16 year old Minneapolis teen accused of murder. Her sniping at Pete Buttigieg on the debate stage seemed uncomfortably personal, as if we were tuning in to a long running sibling rivalry. In the end it was too much baggage without enough money or visceral punch to carry the weight. Klobuchar’s strength is her ability to cross the aisle and work with Republicans. Because of this bipartisan work, her being a woman, and her center focus, many now see her as the best VP choice no matter who the Presidential nominee is. Sexism did not take down Ms. Klobuchar; it was her past missteps and her lack of gravitas.
Kamala Harris, touted as star power like Obama, through mismanagement, staff bickering and inconsistency of her message didn’t make it out of 2019 before imploding. Candidates need to have a solid message and the staff and resources to deliver it. Competency is required—of both genders. Star power isn’t enough, and that is not sexist.
Andrew Yang, 45, an Asian American entrepreneur, took the old and the white out of the old white man shtick. He stumped on ending automation and guaranteed income for every American. He brought fresh air to the debate stage. He built a campaign out of nothing and lasted far deeper into the primary race than most thought possible. But his lack of name recognition and wonky platform failed to generate the support he needed.
There is one woman still running for the Democratic nomination–Tulsi Gabbard. She is the first Hindu member of Congress. She has been called the Democrat’s Donald Trump. Her unpredictable behavior and endorsements by white supremacy groups for her bigoted views alarms progressives. Her platform seems self-aggrandizing. Ms. Gabbard is not taken seriously by most Democrats. That is not sexism. Sober people with a big task in front of them have more important things to do.
In the end it was not sexism, or racism, or back room politics that winnowed the Democratic candidates to two old white men. It was fear of the Apocolypse—4 more years of Trump. Bernie or Joe, one of them will take Trump out. One of them will be the man for the job.