September 26, 2019
While most of the media focus on the battles between most of the known Democratic aspirants to the White House, very few outlets are spending any time getting to know Tulsi Gabbard, an enigma to the party faithful, but who is an interesting candidate not too many people are talking about.
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Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), is an enigma in party circles. Although she has not played any effort in passing noteworthy legislation, she has won some support for bucking the Democratic party at times. During the 2016 presidential campaign, she went against the DNC and vocally supported Senator Bernie Sanders. As a result, she was forced out from being a DNC insider and a member of the senior staff itself. Backers of Hillary Clinton were furious about her open stance for Mr. Sanders. However, she was not afraid of any political blowback. Even though Clinton secured the nomination, Ms. Gabbard chose to not be ashamed or bullied about her vocal support of the Sanders campaign. I was impressed with her courage, and it showed that she can make her own choices independent of the party establishment.
Tulsi Gabbard was one of the first candidates to declare her candidacy for the White House in 2020. The national media gave her some exposure but relegated her to the lower tier of candidates. Her shining moment came in the second official Democratic debate, where she tore into Senator Kamala Harris's record when she was Attorney General of California, specifically her prosecutions of those charged with minor drug offenses, denying bail to those who were not a threat to society, and a host of other opportunities where she had the power to make changes in criminal justice reforms. The concerted attacks were so effective that to this day, Senator Harris has not recovered from her peak position after attacking Vice-President Biden about his past history relating to forced busing. Senator Harris has not regained her momentum and has fallen off her trajectory that she now trails upstart Andrew Yang in one poll in her home state. That is pretty good for a relative unknown.
It is too bad the mainstream outlets like CNN and MSNBC continue to downplay her candidacy and will not give her more platforms to showcase her policy goals and vision for the country. One can venture to guess that her positions did not win her any allies amongst the DNC and the leftward media, and her absence on the third debate stage was seemingly due to her numbers in any of the "preferred" national polls that determined the candidates selected for the debate. This despite her meeting several of the "qualifications" which included campaign donor threshold, and position in various polls; even though some of the polling companies were not selected by the DNC's non-transparent determining requirements.
Ms. Gabbard is very vocal of her criticism of President Trump, especially of this support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign against Yemeni rebels, and its bellicose saber-rattling against Iran. She also supported Senator Sander's position of withholding material and financial aid to Israel due to its intransigence regarding settlements in the West Bank. This position will not win her any friends within the pro-Israel segments of both parties, which is extremely influential and powerful. However, if she can continue her momentum despite opposition by well-funded pro-Israel groups, it could put a scare into the coordinated campaign by both the DNC and the media to "select" preferred candidates in the run-up to the Iowa Caucus next February.
I wonder why the Democratic Establishment does not want her to be front and center within the nomination process to choose a nominee to challenge President Trump. She is of Samoan descent, a convert to Hinduism that has served her country as a member of the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait as a medical officer. She is the first Hindu to serve in Congress. Ms. Gabbard has an amazing American story, yet the party is not championing her candidacy. She checks many of the boxes of "intersectionality," which is a combined set of characteristics that would make her popular with the progressive base.
For some reason, she does not have as much support from the Democratic voter as she would like to have. I don't know if that is because she does not have a large platform from which to espouse her beliefs and policy goals, or that the party's leaders are not excited about her candidacy. Perhaps they want someone who can assuredly beat Trump, and for many, former Vice President Biden is that person. I think Mr. Biden has large support due to his positive time as President Obama's valued Vice President. That has garnered a large percentage of support amongst the party's African American base. Tulsi Gabbard should be able to make her case to those voters, but perhaps their loyalty to his association with Mr. Obama is what will carry him to the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary. If Vice President Biden falters, then Elizabeth Warren seems poised to benefit the most, not Ms. Gabbard.
She has some positions that would be popular with many Democrats, including receptiveness to the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), wanting the United States to move away from the use of fossil fuels, the removal of dark money in politics through campaign finance reform, and criminal justice reform, and as a fierce advocate for anti-interventionist foreign policy, to name a few. However, some issues that could be the reason for her lack of larger support is that during her time as a Hawaii legislator, she was against gay marriage, an issue that was supported by her father, through the Alliance for Traditional Marriage. She has since apologized for her previous position, and now supports members of the LGBTQIA community to be able to marry with full federal protections. Despite this, the gay community, of which Hawaii has a large number of residents and who are part of this constituency, do not want her to win the nomination. Ms. Gabbard was initially against abortion, and considered herself pro-life, but has now shifted to protecting a woman's right to choose. Feminists do not trust her because she changed her position and feel it could be a political calculation, instead of a passionate position. Additionally, she has shown support for India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is a Hindu nationalist. Christian evangelicals will not support someone who feels a kinship with a leader who has allowed Christians in India targeted by Hindus who do not want the country to protect equal rights and status to those other religious denominations.
Representative Gabbard has many qualities that would make her an effective champion for Democrats in the general election against President Trump. However, what ultimately defeated Senator Sanders during his run was staunch opposition by mega party donors, superdelegates, covert opposition by the liberal media of CNN, MSNBC, the network news, and bloggers, who ultimately will doom her candidacy too. Which is sad, since she is one of the true independent voices for progressives, and she is passionate about a new foreign policy for America, one that is prudent, does not promote interventionist wars in the Middle East, and who articulates this as a combat veteran, and also a patriotic woman to boot. The Democratic party will miss a chance to nominate someone who can make serious change in how the country grows into a mature superpower. Unless she can win new hearts and minds, now that she has qualified for the fourth Democratic party debate in October. While enigmas can be a mystery, when they are discovered, they can be powerful and inspiring. Too bad Democrats seem poised to overlook and ignore this interesting political enigma. It could have been for the best.
Tulsi Gabbard was one of the first candidates to declare her candidacy for the White House in 2020. The national media gave her some exposure but relegated her to the lower tier of candidates. Her shining moment came in the second official Democratic debate, where she tore into Senator Kamala Harris's record when she was Attorney General of California, specifically her prosecutions of those charged with minor drug offenses, denying bail to those who were not a threat to society, and a host of other opportunities where she had the power to make changes in criminal justice reforms. The concerted attacks were so effective that to this day, Senator Harris has not recovered from her peak position after attacking Vice-President Biden about his past history relating to forced busing. Senator Harris has not regained her momentum and has fallen off her trajectory that she now trails upstart Andrew Yang in one poll in her home state. That is pretty good for a relative unknown.
It is too bad the mainstream outlets like CNN and MSNBC continue to downplay her candidacy and will not give her more platforms to showcase her policy goals and vision for the country. One can venture to guess that her positions did not win her any allies amongst the DNC and the leftward media, and her absence on the third debate stage was seemingly due to her numbers in any of the "preferred" national polls that determined the candidates selected for the debate. This despite her meeting several of the "qualifications" which included campaign donor threshold, and position in various polls; even though some of the polling companies were not selected by the DNC's non-transparent determining requirements.
Ms. Gabbard is very vocal of her criticism of President Trump, especially of this support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign against Yemeni rebels, and its bellicose saber-rattling against Iran. She also supported Senator Sander's position of withholding material and financial aid to Israel due to its intransigence regarding settlements in the West Bank. This position will not win her any friends within the pro-Israel segments of both parties, which is extremely influential and powerful. However, if she can continue her momentum despite opposition by well-funded pro-Israel groups, it could put a scare into the coordinated campaign by both the DNC and the media to "select" preferred candidates in the run-up to the Iowa Caucus next February.
I wonder why the Democratic Establishment does not want her to be front and center within the nomination process to choose a nominee to challenge President Trump. She is of Samoan descent, a convert to Hinduism that has served her country as a member of the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait as a medical officer. She is the first Hindu to serve in Congress. Ms. Gabbard has an amazing American story, yet the party is not championing her candidacy. She checks many of the boxes of "intersectionality," which is a combined set of characteristics that would make her popular with the progressive base.
For some reason, she does not have as much support from the Democratic voter as she would like to have. I don't know if that is because she does not have a large platform from which to espouse her beliefs and policy goals, or that the party's leaders are not excited about her candidacy. Perhaps they want someone who can assuredly beat Trump, and for many, former Vice President Biden is that person. I think Mr. Biden has large support due to his positive time as President Obama's valued Vice President. That has garnered a large percentage of support amongst the party's African American base. Tulsi Gabbard should be able to make her case to those voters, but perhaps their loyalty to his association with Mr. Obama is what will carry him to the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary. If Vice President Biden falters, then Elizabeth Warren seems poised to benefit the most, not Ms. Gabbard.
She has some positions that would be popular with many Democrats, including receptiveness to the DACA program (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), wanting the United States to move away from the use of fossil fuels, the removal of dark money in politics through campaign finance reform, and criminal justice reform, and as a fierce advocate for anti-interventionist foreign policy, to name a few. However, some issues that could be the reason for her lack of larger support is that during her time as a Hawaii legislator, she was against gay marriage, an issue that was supported by her father, through the Alliance for Traditional Marriage. She has since apologized for her previous position, and now supports members of the LGBTQIA community to be able to marry with full federal protections. Despite this, the gay community, of which Hawaii has a large number of residents and who are part of this constituency, do not want her to win the nomination. Ms. Gabbard was initially against abortion, and considered herself pro-life, but has now shifted to protecting a woman's right to choose. Feminists do not trust her because she changed her position and feel it could be a political calculation, instead of a passionate position. Additionally, she has shown support for India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is a Hindu nationalist. Christian evangelicals will not support someone who feels a kinship with a leader who has allowed Christians in India targeted by Hindus who do not want the country to protect equal rights and status to those other religious denominations.
Representative Gabbard has many qualities that would make her an effective champion for Democrats in the general election against President Trump. However, what ultimately defeated Senator Sanders during his run was staunch opposition by mega party donors, superdelegates, covert opposition by the liberal media of CNN, MSNBC, the network news, and bloggers, who ultimately will doom her candidacy too. Which is sad, since she is one of the true independent voices for progressives, and she is passionate about a new foreign policy for America, one that is prudent, does not promote interventionist wars in the Middle East, and who articulates this as a combat veteran, and also a patriotic woman to boot. The Democratic party will miss a chance to nominate someone who can make serious change in how the country grows into a mature superpower. Unless she can win new hearts and minds, now that she has qualified for the fourth Democratic party debate in October. While enigmas can be a mystery, when they are discovered, they can be powerful and inspiring. Too bad Democrats seem poised to overlook and ignore this interesting political enigma. It could have been for the best.
This is a nice and balanced analysis of Ms Gabbard's characteristics affecting her candidacy. Perhaps her campaign staff should review all aspects of her challenges and elaborate and emphasize her positive attributes that will lead to a winning strategy.
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