We’re two primaries in, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads the delegate count. He won Iowa and he finished a razor thin second to Sanders in New Hampshire — a state that borders both Sanders’ home state of Vermont and also Warren’s home state of Massachusetts.
And he did so as a progressive gay man.
Which begs the question: Why is Mayor Pete so attractive to so many voters? The answer seems obvious: Mayor Pete is the most inspirational speaker in the race and seemingly the communicator who is best connecting with voters. Not because he is gay. Not because a vote for him is feels like some sort of atonement for past national sins as some Obama voters felt. But because his inspirational gifts are causing voters to shrug and normalise that he’s gay. To focus on his message, not his orientation.
That’s a powerful gift and a bright hope for future politics.
So how he’s doing it? By selling values first and policy second. Mayor Pete understands that elections are struggles for the hearts of voters. And the weapons are communications about ideals. And in doing this, Mayor Pete is staying true to his FDR style progressive roots.
When FDR was once being challenged by reporters regarding his political philosophy, FDR answered, “I am a Christian and a Democrat.” That order was not accidental. FDR’s deep regard for putting values first is reflected in his political rhetoric (most notably in speeches like the “Four Freedoms”) and his political strategy. Mayor Pete echoed FDR’s philosophy when he said “ . . . we need to not be afraid to invoke arguments that are convincing on why Christian faith is going to point you in a progressive direction.”
Mayor Pete knows that the tradition of Democrats selling values started by FDR essentially came to an end with the death of JFK and the elevation of LBJ, a career legislator who was enamoured with policy and deal making to the Presidency. This left a void which Ronald Reagan filled. Reagan famously co-opted FDR’s style in his run for President in 1980. Most notably, in the second paragraph of his acceptance speech at the 1980 Republican Convention, Ronald Reagan told voters that they “share a community of values embodied in these words: family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom.” Reagan beat Carter that year and destroyed Mondale, who campaigned on progressive policy ideas alone, in 1984.
Mayor Pete made a deeply relevant observation about this when being interviewed by Rachel Maddow:
I do think as Democrats, we sometimes have a tendency to lead with the policy minutia. Of course, it`s important for people to know where we stand. But I also think – you know, one thing conservatives did effectively was they claimed the idea space. They talked about values and kind of won a lot of the arguments or at least won a lot of media space for their values, beginning with the Reagan administration, in such a way that even Democrats were compelled to do what I would consider largely conservative things, when they took office really at any time in my lifetime.
And so, it`s very important to me to make sure that we`re winning a values argument, too. That`s why I talk about things like freedom and why freedom can’t just be property of the conservative movement to the Republicans. But that means, you know, constructive freedom.
So, to me something like the work that goes on on consumer financial protection is freedom, because you are not free if you are prevented from suing a credit card company after they rip you off. Health care is freedom. It secures our freedom to have access to healthcare, which is why I’ve been clear about Medicare-for-All the desired destination for us.
In that same interview, Mayor Pete brought this analysis back to FDR:
You know, you look at something like the New Deal. That didn’t happen because it was completely formulated by FDR as a campaign promise, brought in in a briefcase to the White House and then deployed. It happened because there was a set of values and priorities that encountered the reality on the ground.
Yep. Pete’s values first approach is winning the hearts of voters. That’s why a gay man is our primary front runner. It’s a lesson that all Democrats need to assimilate.