How do you solve a problem like Mayor Pete?

[FreeState]

This article is spot on with how I’m feeling.

https://skylarbakerjordan.medium.com/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-mayor-pete-8e597db981d4

As a gay man, this is something I am used to. Straight people love us when we’re useful to them — say, giving them Queer Eye makeovers or effectively refuting Republican propaganda on Fox News — but when we try to assert some autonomy or claim a bit of power for ourselves, they blanch. I hope that isn’t what is happening now, and I admit it is entirely possible I am projecting my own neuroses from growing up gay in America onto this situation. But, at this moment, that is how it feels.

Finding a position for Pete was always going to be difficult, in part because Democrats are spoilt for choice. There are just so many talented, qualified people ready to fulfil a finite number of positions. Finding somewhere for Pete to shine, that is high profile enough to appease his supporters like me, that plays to his strengths but also sharpens his skills, but that doesn’t infuriate his many detractors (such as putting him at HUD would have done — fairly or unfairly), is an unenviable task.

Whatever the case may be, and wherever Pete ends up, I know he will do the job with grace and grit, humility and tenacity, and he will do it exceedingly well. That is why I supported him for president, and it is why I am championing him now. It is also why Joe Biden — and America — needs Pete Buttigieg.

[RKP5637]

1. K&R!!!!! n/t

[littlemissmartypants]

2. Kicked and recommended. ❤ nt

[babylonsister]

3. He's been suggested for the position of ambassador to China...

very prestigious, I would think, and important.

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-biden-china-idUSKBN28J0A4
Biden considering possible China ambassadorship for former Mayor Buttigieg: Axios

[FreeState]

4. The first paragraph of the linked article discusses this

As does 90% of the article. Thanks for the mainstream straight view of the issue.

Last night, Axios reported that President-elect Joe Biden is considering Pete Buttigieg for the position of US ambassador to China. As a supporter of Pete Buttigieg during the Democratic Primary — and someone who was bitterly disappointed when he dropped out and supported Biden, effectively clearing the path to the nomination for the former Vice President — I feel conflicted. The Beijing posting might be a smart move for Buttigieg and the country, but it also feels painfully inadequate for a rising player in the Democratic Party.

I agree with the author - it’s not all positive for Pete depending on what he’s wanting to do.

I’d love to see the first openly gay member of the cabinet - kind of shocking that it’s 2020 and we’ve never had that level of representation in the US.

[Flash953]

5. I've been listening to Mayor Pete and he's very good at fighting back on the Fox Network

I would consider him a good candidate for President next round. He's good at comebacks against Right Wing BS. I'm straight. What we need is guys like him.

[dem4decades]

6. Pete is exceptional but his experience is limited. He needs a better

Resume. Something more than his education, military experience and being a mayor of a relatively small city.

If Pete and Beto were from States that were progressive they'd both be on their way.

[Celerity]

7. surely he would make a better Sec. of Commerce than the serial firm-bankrupter Repug Meg Whitman,

who is supposedly the front-runner.

I think he would have also been perfect for the head of the DNC, but Harrison (who ended up losing to the extraordinarily unpopular Graham by double digits, arguably the biggest polling error, along with Collins in Maine, of the entire election) was a pay-off to Jim Clyburn I wager.

I also think there are a lot of powerful people in the Party who do not want to see him being given a high profile position, as they see him as a serious contender for POTUS down the road, and they know he resides in a now ruby Red state where it is almost impossible for him to get elected as a Senator or the Governor. Cut him off for years from the spotlight and his 'brand' dies a bit. Politics is a brutal game.

I was a huge Buttigieg supporter, and not because he, like I am, is a member of the LGBTQ community. I supported him for POTUS becuase I truly though he was the best candidate for the office. He is an extraordinary communicator, arguably the best one we have, and is wonderful at the 'big picture' vision thing, as well as being hyper-intelligent and able to go full wonk if need be.

It would be a shame to see him not used to the full extent of his abilities, as well as a loss for the nation and the party.

Time will tell.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. This sums it up "Straight people love us when we're useful to them" -- article over.

Until this year, NO openly GLBT person has EVER been in a presidential cabinet.