If all you have is a hammer then everything becomes a nail.

I recently read this New York Times piece about Pete Buttegiege and his maleness. The article featured several women who aren’t running for president and their insights into the career paths and outlooks of women in office. They asked these women questions about politics, experience and identity that Mr. Buttegiege has answered in some form.

It’s interesting how they asked registered Democrats and other women who aren’t affiliated with any party. They couldn’t find any republicans?

The question of a 37-year-old woman being able to becoming a top tier presidential candidate is ridiculous and needlessly divisive. Of course a 37 year old woman can make as far as Buttigieg! Did they conveniently forget that Tulsi Gabbard is 38? Something tells me this writer won’t accept Tulsi’s candidacy because it goes against the narrative the writer has come to believe and promote.

I have a couple of questions:

Would a 37-year-old straight man be where Pete Buttegiege is?

Would a 37-year-old straight openly gay man be where Donald Trump is?

What’s the point if this?

Anyone who feels we need a woman to be in office, please tell me, which one? Any woman? Should we vote for an ultra liberal woman? A conservative woman? What Tulsi Gabbard was the only woman candidate running on the democratic side. Would you vote for her over every male candidate? If you wouldn’t vote for her, is it because she’s a woman or maybe you don’t like her personality or policies?

Let’s go even further down this path. What if a republican like Carly Fiorina switched parties and was the only woman running for the Democrats in 2020? Would you still think a woman should be president? Should she be president even though you can’t stand her way of thinking?

Imagine if we had this scenario in 2020. A human being as detestable as Kelleyanne Conway was the GOP candidate vs a 37-year-old gay man named Pete Buttegiege. Would you still think a woman should be president? Sarah Sanders vs. the 37 year old gay man? Should we vote for these women simply because they are women?

After thinking it over, you might feel differently about the ongoing narrative of needing a “woman” to be president. We need a statesman or stateswoman. We need a leader. We need a person who will be the head of the executive branch of the federal government. It doesn’t matter what genitalia is between their legs. Can they do the job better than the person we have in office at the moment? That’s all that matters to me.

This “gender politics” nonsense is exhausting. It seems like those who write for publications like the New York Times get published because they push this victim narrative along without having thought through what they’re even writing about. It’s time to push back against all of this and get people to use their brains instead of their heart. I understand the need for the first this or the first that, but after we had the first “black” president actually be elected to the office twice, then what? I guess we have to get more “people of color” elected…a Latino, and Asian, a Muslim, a peach colored person of color. I’ll write another essay on that nonsense soon – “person of color.”

America will follow the lead of many other countries and elect a female president one day. Lets just choose the best one.

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Clayton Craddock is and independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City and is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Aint Too Proud. 

 

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