There are currently about two dozen candidates vying to be the next Democratic presidential nominee for an election that won’t take place until November of 2020. Five of the officially declared candidates are women. We’ve never had this many women in serious contention before.
I don’t know who’ll rise to the top of this crowded field of candidates. It’s possible that it will be a person who hasn’t even declared yet. I will say this: Whoever it is, they have my vote. I think Donald Trump is both a danger and an embarrassment for America. None of the candidates hoping to unseat Trump will be worse than Trump. That said, I will be disappointed if I’m forced to vote for some of these candidates.
Joe Biden has officially entered the race and I’m not thrilled about it. At the risk of agitating a lot of people, I also have zero passion for Bernie Sanders. I’m exhausted from hearing the complaints about how the Democratic Party didn’t enthusiastically support the man in our last election, particularly since Sanders has spent his entire political career disavowing that he is a Democrat. He is only a Democrat when he’s running for president. Otherwise, he’s firm about being an Independent. I know that’s what makes him attractive to some voters, but why should the Democratic party wholeheartedly support a man who doesn’t support the party? That’s a rhetorical question. There really is no need to send me your hate mail.
A lot of the men who are running seem frankly light on policy and/or experience and/or enthusiasm. I like Mayor Pete as much as the next person, but I bet I’ll like him even more in eight years or as a potential Vice President. The rest of them? I can barely tell them apart. I’m more excited about the women in the race. Most women and plenty of men I know feel the same way. We don’t understand how Elizabeth Warren can put forth so many substantive and far-reaching policy proposals and get so little media coverage. We don’t understand why Kamala Harris’s decision to stack her campaign staff full of women and people of color doesn’t get more attention. And I get that maybe Amy Klobuchar isn’t a great boss, but at least she doesn’t hug people without consent. The gender gap is alive and well in American politics and in American media coverage.
I’m sick to death of hearing people pontificate about how maybe we aren’t ready for another female at the top of the ticket, about how it would be safer to go with the status quo and pick a candidate who looks like almost every other candidate we’ve ever nominated. We are ready. I promise you, we are. There are several highly qualified women running. We have choices that run from progressive to centrist. I know that a woman can win. We just need to put forth the right woman.
Who is the right woman? Well, that’s to be determined. I do have some preferences, but I’m going to wait before declaring support for any one candidate. I’ll let this whole messy process play out and then I’ll support the candidate who I feel will do the best job. And, ultimately, I’ll vote for the Democrat at the top of the ticket. But if that Democrat is a man, I won’t be particularly enthusiastic about it. And if it’s a man who is not really a Democrat? I’ll be downright angry. But I’ll vote for him. And if you want to defeat Trump, you’ll join me in my pragmatic approach to the upcoming election. Any one of the current contenders is a better choice than the person currently in office. We cannot afford to have people staying home from the polls and pouting because their favorite candidate didn’t get the nomination.
Let’s throw all of our support behind the eventual nominee and send her (or him, sigh) straight to the White House.
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Thanks, Tiffany, for sharing your views. I tend to agree with you, and I certainly understand your criticisms. I would gladly support a female candidate, currently with Elizabeth Warren as first choice. But I remain open to learning more about the others. I’ve known Amy Klobuchar since she was a child, when her mother sang in a church choir I directed in Hopkins, MN. I wish she were more of a progressive, but she’s widely admired in MN. Her staff problems was news to most of us. May the best woman win!