Dem-ographics

Scott Hardie | April 17, 2019
Is anyone else utterly sick of talk about the demographics of Democratic candidates this year?

I don't care whether Elizabeth Warren is a woman or a man, or whether Cory Booker is black or white, or whether Joe Biden is old or young, or whether Pete Buttigieg is gay or straight, or whether Bernie Sanders is Jewish or not.

What I do care about: What they're going to do for this country. What policies they're going to enact. What causes they're going to fight for. What experience they're going to bring to the job. That stuff actually matters.

That information is out there, I guess. I hear policy brought up once in a while. But ten times more than that, what I hear is talk about their demographics, as if it's the only quality that matters about a candidate.

"Is Joe Biden too old?"

"Is Pete Buttigieg gay enough?"

"Can a woman win the presidency?"

"Can a straight white male win the nomination?"

Enough with this pointless obsession. I don't know how much of it is coming from actual Democratic voters and volunteers, and how much of it is being invented whole-cloth by the news media, but it's ridiculous and distracting and utterly useless.