Pete Buttigieg Drops Out of Presidential Race

To my dismay, Pete Buttigieg surprised supporters on Sunday by announcing that he was ending his campaign for the presidency. Pete’s exit was surprising given that he won the Iowa caucuses and was seen as one of the strongest moderate candidates in the field who enjoyed notable support from independents and moderate republicans.

I personally supported Pete’s campaign, and hoped to see him win the nomination. Unfortunately, he was robbed of the attention usually paid to the winner of that contest due to the absolute fumble by the Iowa Democratic Party in reporting the results, and this cost him a lot of name recognition which could’ve carried him to more impressive delegate hauls in Nevada and South Carolina, where his performance was less than impressive due to his lack of support among black and latino voters, who seemed more comfortable supporting candidates with more name recognition, like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. I found it peculiar that Pete decided to drop out when he did, even given his shallow support in Nevada and South Carolina, he still seemed as well positioned as any other candidate to do well on Super Tuesday. He had lasting momentum, something Klobuchar, Biden, and Bloomberg did not. I’m curious if Pete decided to take one for the team in hopes of being offered a VP spot, if his campaign lacked funding to remain competitive, or if unseen actors influenced his decision through some sort of bribery or coercion.

Pete was the internet’s favorite candidate to pick on, with relentless attacks being lobbed (primarily by Bernie Sanders’ supporters) attacking him for a myriad of non-issues. I could spend weeks debunking all their bogus criticisms, but instead I’d like to address just one. It was a common trope that Pete “wasn't gay enough” to be the first gay president. This is an absolutely appalling argument, especially from people who claim to be progressive and woke. If Pete’s sexuality is relevant to his capability to successfully execute the responsibilties of the president, then saying he’s “not gay enough” is just making it okay for people to say that he’s “too gay”. Those who made this criticism were clearly projecting their own shortcomings; a lot of gays can’t relate to someone who is comfortable enough with themselves to the degree that they’re able to allow their sexuality not to be the orienting aspect of their entire personality, and therefore those people perceived Pete’s lack of reliance upon his sexuality as something that makes him disingenuous. Shame on them, and how dare they now remark on the historical nature of a campaign they tried to sabotage with bush league personal criticisms.

As someone pointed out, Pete could run in every election between now and 2060 before reaching Bernie’s age, so a Buttigieg presidency is certainly not off the table yet.