So I had an epiphany today as I was watching my morning dose of MSNBC. The Iowa caucus results were trickling in, and it looked like Mayor Pete was in the lead. A guest on the show, the prolific Bill Clinton advisor, James Carville was stressing the importance of the Democrats finding their relevance in a speedy fashion. It suddenly hit me like a brick, the answer is with the LGBTQ vote, the answer is Mayor Pete.
Many people know that I have been a lifetime supporter of the LGBTQ community, so my opinions might sway in their favor. With that being said, I have obviously been supportive of an openly gay man running for POTUS. My reasons for supporting him however are not only because of that; Mayor Pete also has both the military experience and educational pedigree needed to be a great leader in modern times. He is a calm and reserved man who speaks well, and can be seen in high regard for his accomplishments. What a contrast compared to our current international embarrassment!
The answer to Mayor Pete beating Trump lies within two areas. The first is an aggressive voter registration push within the LGBTQ community. These people also have the right to vote, and many do not. They are often under-represented by their elected officials as well. Pride parades and events are the perfect medium for voter registration drives, campaigning, canvassing, and outreach. Almost every major city in the United States has a Pride parade and events, often on different days to boot. Like Obama and the black community in 2008, if there is someone like them on the top of the ticket, they will vote in record numbers. If you build it, they will come...So to speak.
The second area needed for Mayor Pete to defeat Trump is a marketing campaign to make gay less scary again. In video from the Iowa Caucus, a participant actually wanted to change her vote after discovering that Mayor Pete was a gay man. An informative re branding of "gay" would make Mayor Pete more attractive to voters like this. America loves Ellen DeGeneres, George Takei, Neil Patrick Harris, Lily Tomlin, and Nathan Lane. Guess what? They are all Democrats who would be more than willing to hit the campaign trail in support of an LGBTQ candidate. Dust the keif off old Barney Frank up in Ogunquit and get him out there too. Remind people that Mayor Pete is also a practicing Christian, and that faith and homosexuality can exist within the same person.
I know I will get flack for this from my Bernie Sanders loving friends. While I absolutely LOVE Bernie and his policies, he unfortunately wears the label of "Socialist" on his forehead like the Scarlet Letter. Socialist is a scary word in Trump's America, many people truly do not know what consists of a social democracy. They envision communism like the Soviet Union during the Cold War or the failures in Venezuela. Extreme leftism is not going to win an election in 2020, regardless of how right many of the policies are for the greater good. I will admit that Mayor Pete does give me some pause when it comes to corporatism, but a centrist Democrat is our best bet against Trump. Right now Biden is too mixed up with the Ukraine debacle, Klobachar isn't doing well in the polls, and Bloomberg isn't viable in my opinion. There is momentum for Mayor Pete, and it needs to be utilized.
At the end of the day, our goal is to defeat Donald Trump PERIOD. We may have to put some of our ideologies on a back burner for now to get there, but we desperately need to get there. Infighting is only going to give us 4 more years of chaos and tweets. Mayor Pete is a veteran, a Rhodes scholar, a Christian, has the eloquence of a diplomat, and is our best choice. His sexual preference could actually be used as a positive, if delivered in the right packaging. No one thought the black guy with the funny name could win either, but he did.
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