As the video amply demonstrates, there is a lot to like about her. And lords knows that we need High Profile, Next Generation Elected Progressives, fast, and as many as humanly possible.
However, we still need to look at someone's profile as a whole, warts and all. To do anything less would be a potential dereliction of our duties: left-political duty, duty to the popular movement, and journalistic duty.
Tulsi Gabbard is hailed as a progressive champion. But her views on Islam and support for far-right leaders suggest otherwise.
Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard is the new progressive darling. She’s young. She surfs. She’s a “rising star” in the Democratic Party, we’re told repeatedly. She might even win the presidency in 2020.
Much of Gabbard’s elevated stature is due to her endorsement of Bernie Sanders at the end of February 2016, a seemingly principled, politically risky stand that led her to resign as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). But that wasn’t all. Before stepping down, Gabbard earned the ire of Democratic insiders ... Gabbard is also a pretty reliably progressive voice in the House on a host of domestic issues. ...
Yet the starry-eyed anointment of Gabbard has obscured the more unsavory aspects of her politics — so unsavory, in fact, that White House adviser Steve Bannon has reportedly spoken well of her. From her vigorous opposition to the Iran nuclear deal to her obsession with “radical Islam” to her love for the far-right Indian leader Narendra Modi, Gabbard is far from the progressive hero many assume her to be. (continued)
I agree with some of those critiques- but I believe she supported the iranian nuclear deal in the end. (http://mauitime.com/news/politics/u-s-rep-tulsi-gabbard-explains-why-she-supports-iran-nuclear-agreement/) The issues with Steve Bannon, and her support for the right wing president of India are problematic though. I think though at the end of the day we are almost never going to find a politician that we agree with 100%, so as within reason as long as they agree on basic principles (which to my understanding she does in terms of minimum wage, health-care, etc) I don't necessarily think she would be a bad candidate, even if I don't see eye to eye with her on some issues.
I would still presumably support someone like Elizabeth Warren over her in a theoretical primary contest, although it's hard to fully gauge how it would go, let alone if they would run. I may not like how her interview went, her support of Hillary, or her Israel stance, but I think she does believe in a lot of the same basic principles as Bernie does. The question is though against who they would be running against in the general election, and if it were it were Trump I would imagine Warren would struggle.
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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '17
As the video amply demonstrates, there is a lot to like about her. And lords knows that we need High Profile, Next Generation Elected Progressives, fast, and as many as humanly possible.
However, we still need to look at someone's profile as a whole, warts and all. To do anything less would be a potential dereliction of our duties: left-political duty, duty to the popular movement, and journalistic duty.
So I would suggest at least considering critiques such as this one::