There were many complaints about South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s caucus-night declaration that he was moving onto New Hampshire “victorious.” Most thought it was presumptuous because a winner had not been declared in the Iowa caucus debacle. Some questioned his confidence since he had connections with Shadow Inc, the company that made the failed caucus app. Now, he’s facing a new round of criticism as prominent Democratic female leaders in New Hampshire are pointing their finger at his “white male privilege” that allowed him to even make such a claim.
Even as of today, nobody is fully aware of what the outcome is in Iowa. It seems as if it was essentially a tie between Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders, but officially nobody is willing to make the call, not even the Associated Press. Both campaigns are now claiming victory in the convoluted affair. This new issue hits the Buttigieg campaign just a few days before the New Hampshire primary.
‘White male privilege’: Top N.H. women fume over Buttigieg’s Iowa speech
“In a moment where he should show composure and measure, he’s not doing that,” said Jenn Alford-Teaster, a Sen. Elizabeth Warren supporter and Democratic activist running for state Senate. ”But he’s going to get away with it because that’s what happens when you’re a man. You can do whatever you want. For women, we’re held to a different standard and it’s demoralizing as a candidate and it’s demoralizing as a voter.”
In his speech to supporters in Des Moines on Monday night, Buttigieg went beyond where any of his rivals were willing to go in the wake of the vote-counting debacle, essentially claiming first place based on what his campaign said were internal numbers showing him edging out Sen. Bernie Sanders. He might be right — the Iowa Democratic Party is still trying to figure out the official winner. But even without those results, his performance exceeded expectations.
“We don’t know all the results,” is how he started his speech, looking downwards with a slight grin. “But we know by the time it’s all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation, because by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
To his critics — nearly all of whom were prominent supporters of Warren and Sen. Amy Klobuchar — the presumption that he had won in the absence of any official data left a bad impression.
By no means do we support Buttigieg, but we do find it humorous that he’s being attacked in such a petty way from the radical progressives in his party. Things have gotten to the point that literally anything a white male does can be attributed to white male privilege. The far-left (and if we’re being honest, even the “moderate” left lately) has unhinged itself from reality in an effort to build their post-truth society.
It’s all about being “woke,” and so far Sanders is the only male candidate who seems to qualify enough. Perhaps it’s his extreme ideology that shields him from scrutiny. After all, Buttigieg is considered to be a “moderate” among his candidate peers. But there have been questions about Sanders’ own “wokeness” lately that continue to crop up.
What this really comes down to is election positioning. Those in New Hampshire calling him out, as POLITICO noted, are supporters of Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. With the possible exception of Joe Biden, nobody would benefit more from a Buttigieg collapse than the “moderate” Klobuchar and chameleon-like Warren who is trying (and failing) to pull support from both the far-left and moderate middle.
Democrats have mastered the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Nobody, not Pete Buttigieg and not even Bernie Sanders, is truly “woke” enough to appease the bulk of the radical progressives making up the Democratic base today.
