Watching Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., compete in the Democratic presidential primary for the woke-est straight white male title is to test the limits of how hard a human being can cringe before collapsing into complete seizure.
There is nothing natural about his parody of a social justice campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Swalwell posted some tweets over the holiday weekend flexing his sensitivity muscles for the social justice grievance crowd. One of the them said that “Being a good president doesn’t mean you speak the loudest or tweet the most. Being a good president means knowing when to listen.” Included in the tweet was a photo of Swalwell sitting amidst five black people in Chicago.
I’m sure the Chicagoans were grateful that Swalwell, who repeatedly acknowledges that he’s white, was there to help by listening. Having a white male show up and explain how his presence is what makes a for a good president is no doubt exactly what they needed.
Coincidentally, prominent black activist Alicia Garza wrote Tuesday in the New York Times that no, this is precisely what they don’t need. “During election season, I always cringe when I see candidates eating fried chicken next to a bottle of hot sauce in Harlem or taking staged photos with black leaders,” wrote Garza. “These shallow symbolic gestures are not a substitute for meaningful engagement with black voters. And candidates should know that we see right through them.”
In a separate tweet on Sunday, Swalwell wrote that he “may be ‘another white guy,’ but I know where there are gaps in my knowledge or my experience and I know when to pass the mic.” Attached was a video clip from a new interview with Vice, wherein he promised again that as the Democratic nominee, he would pick a woman to serve as his running mate. “Where there would be gaps in my knowledge or my experience,” said Swalwell, “I will pass the mic to people who do have that experience.”
Swalwell apparently believes he’s got a crowd pleaser with his corny “pass the mic” phrase. In late April, he said in an interview on MSNBC that it’s important to “recognize where you can’t speak for someone’s experience and pass the mic to someone who can.”
Does he know he’s running to lead the country and not to lead an AA meeting? I don’t recall President Barack Obama choosing to “pass the mic” to RuPaul when a bunch of gays were shot up at an Orlando night club.
This is a naked, debasing, humiliating pander by Swalwell to the social justice mob that now lords over the Democratic Party. But he’s unaware that to “pass the mic” isn’t about taking turns. It’s about giving up his turn altogether. The very question he was responding to in the Vice interview was, “Why should another white guy be president?” In other words, Don’t you think it’s time you step aside for someone else, Mr. Swalwell?
Running for president and choosing to “pass the mic” is like serving as the best man and asking someone else to give the toast. It’s not honorable. It’s just weird.
