Mayor Pete speaking at HRC last night. Mostly stump speech until around 19:00 where he offers some thoughts on identity politics.

I remain super impressed by him.

The left knows that the backlash against the idea of "identity politics" is something they need to contend with, and they've been thinking pretty hard about how to do that. This tack Mr Buttigieg takes is the current strategy, not only for him but for every other intelligent progressive I've heard who wants to debate the ideas.

I consider it intellectually dishonest to claim there is such a thing as "white identity politics" which enjoys any social acceptability or power. And it is insulting to be told that if you don't believe identity should play such a large role in politics, you must be employing an identity of your own.

When you actually look at the statistics about which identities vote which way, it's not as if there is anything near political uniformity within these identities anyway. It's just that the voices you hear in public discussion tend to conform with the political stereotype of that identity.

My favorite example of this is in the breakdown of men and women in the abortion debate. Based on how that debate is presented publicly, who would ever guess that women are no more likely to be pro-choice than men? But that's the reality.

Identity can be more of a political prop than a real thing. The idea might be to tell voters "all these people vote this way, do you really want to vote against all of them? Why would you want to do that, do you have an issue with all those people?".

But the reality is that each of "those" people, whoever they may be, is an actual human being who's had an actual human life who isn't as beholden to their "identity" as the left would like us all to believe. People will claim and work with their "identity" exactly as long as they think it benefits them, and exactly no longer.

He speaks truth when he talks about exclusion, the experience of being excluded.

I would expect a gay man talking to this group to make such an intelligent and perceptive observation.

However, I have to say I don't see any type of coherent, comprehensive argument here that would appeal to the American electorate.

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel:
He speaks truth when he talks about exclusion, the experience of being excluded.

I would expect a gay man talking to this group to make such an intelligent and perceptive observation.

However, I have to say I don't see any type of coherent, comprehensive argument here that would appeal to the American electorate.

I don't know, how about someone who can clearly articulate a problem? After all, understanding the problem is half the solution.

What problem did he articulate in your words please?

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel:
What problem did he articulate in your words please?

1) That identity politics can tear the party apart from within and we need to guard against that. 2) That the right is using identity politics to tear the nation apart.

How do you define "identity politics"?

he has a lot of pretty words. but put him up against, say, liz warren, and there's an obvious lack of specificity and policy.

the progressives i know consider him to be in the same league as HRC and Biden, in terms of not be progressive enough.

That's a fair point, but to be honest if you put anyone up against Eliz Warren today, there'll be a lack of specificity and policy.

She's the only one who's articulated anything in detail.

Bernie Sanders has no lack of specificity and policy.

I also think the first gay presidential candidate would be more effective if he wasn't wearing his identity on his sleeve all the time. It should not be at the center of his message.

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:
I also think the first gay presidential candidate would be more effective if he wasn't wearing his identity on his sleeve all the time. It should not be at the center of his message.

quote:

...should not wear it on his sleeve all the time.

You mean hide his sexuality?

It's only at the center of his message insofar as one of his main messages is that politics is personal. Otherwise it is not the center of his message.

No I absolutely do not mean hide his sexuality. There's a difference between being openly gay and harping on it. It's important that voters feel he represents everyone, not just the gay community. In his latest speeches he seems on the verge of crossing that line.

He's been compared a lot to Barack Obama, but Obama didn't go around constantly mentioning that he is black and how tough it is to be black in America.