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| Mayor Pete |
We start with the overwhelming improbability of Pete Buttigieg for President.
Get real. He isn't ready, not even close. Right?
And yet, Buttigieg is the moderate candidate Democrats are considering as the alternative to Biden. He has a wow factor. He seems sensible. Clear. Trustworthy.
To restate the obvious: He is too young. He holds a minor political office. He is gay and married to a guy. Gay! He is a white guy with no particular connection with black voters. He is inexperienced and Trump is proving that experience matters. His candidacy is an overwhelming improbability.
Yet he is proving--for now at least--more viable than Senators Klobuchar, Booker, Harris, and Bennet, and Governor Bullock, philanthropists Yang and Steyer, and author Williamson.
Pete Buttigieg has an effect on a lot of people. His manner seems reassuring. He is the opposite of Trump. Trump is about bluster and braggadocio; Buttigieg seems grounded. Trump appeals to partisan and racial tribalism; Buttigieg talks about unity. Trump presents himself as a warrior, big and strong, a bully and proud of it. Buttigieg explains policy, with quiet apparent confidence.
Americans have mental archetypes for this. Goliath vs. David.
Also Bluto vs. Popeye. The British Redcoats versus the Minutemen Patriots. Generally it is the big aggressive villain versus the smaller virtuous opponent.
The plot of the movie Independence Day. Brains beat brawn.
How does Buttigieg do it? First impressions matter. He was introduced to the public as a wunderkind. We heard he speaks 7 languages. He was a Rhodes Scholar. He was special.
Then, he proved up, in the cauldron of retail politics. He ends his sentences with a voice that turns down, not up. He sounds matter of fact. He knows things and he is telling us, not selling us. It projects competence and self assurance. He doesn't have to be a brag about what he knows. He knows what he knows, but he doesn't seem snotty or know-it-all about it.
Then, he proved up, in the cauldron of retail politics. He ends his sentences with a voice that turns down, not up. He sounds matter of fact. He knows things and he is telling us, not selling us. It projects competence and self assurance. He doesn't have to be a brag about what he knows. He knows what he knows, but he doesn't seem snotty or know-it-all about it.
He appears to have emotional maturity.
Buttigieg does not have that positive "wow" effect on everyone. Bernie Sanders supporters are immune; they recognize that Buttigieg is presenting a moderate Democratic message, not a revolutionary one. "Medicare for everyone who wants it" is an attractive alternative to Medicare for All.
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| Click: Three minutes of Mayor Pete |
Meritocracy vs. Common Man. Buttigieg also represents--through unspoken body language of biography and manner-- an affirmation of the meritocratic vision of the Democratic party. Buttigieg's parents are college professors. Buttigieg checks the boxes of achievement. He represents an implied notion of how one achieves success in America, by achievement.
The progressive notion represented explicitly by Sanders---and by now- departed candidate Tim Ryan--is that the meritocratic solution insults working people. America should reward and empower people as citizens, as workers in their current work, not as uncommon achievers.
Buttigieg talks about helping the common man and his policies advance them, but his life represents meritocratic exceptionalism. That Bernie vote is lost to him, for now at least.
Buttigieg talks about helping the common man and his policies advance them, but his life represents meritocratic exceptionalism. That Bernie vote is lost to him, for now at least.
He is gaining on Biden and he is competing with him for moderate voters. He positions himself as a Democratic and American unifier. In that sense, he is like Biden, only he is younger, verbally more adept, gaffe free, and unburdened by a history of having voted for the war in Iraq and the Crime Bill.
Some voters will call Buttigieg a fresh start. Others will call it inexperience.
3 comments:
Pete Buttigieg is not a moderate. He's far-left, and he's not much different philosophically than Sanders or Warren. If Buttigieg were a heterosexual, would you give him the time of day? I doubt it. America has thousands of small-town mayors who have done a better job than Buttigieg has done in South Bend. The South Bend economy is down, and the crime is up. Meanwhile, Pete has abandoned South Bend for the past year looking for greener pastures. Let's face it. None of the current crop of democratic candidates has a chance against Trump. Here comes Bloomberg and Hillary to the rescue.
The answer is what every Democrat wants to know. Who could take him on in a debate and come out winning. Who could take his lies and bullying and and throw it back in his face. Who can endure his name calling and nasty attacks. Who can respond and attack him back in a way he would understand. Most of all, who expose the fraud of a president and bring the country and our democracy back to normal.
We still don’t know yet. But there has to be somebody.
The appeal of Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in his communication skills. He started his campaign with very little name recognition, and a small donor base, and has grown to be 4th in the National polling. He worked hard going to every media source, from CNN to podcasts, to get his name and agenda out there. It worked.
You can see the jealousy in comments of some of the other candidates. Beto, Klobuchar, and Julian Castro have been especially pointed at times. Even Bullock (remember him?) has thrown some unprovoked barbs his way. Most of the other candidates have spent years, if not decades, to get to debate stage. Mayor Pete took a shortcut.
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