"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."
John F. Kennedy, January, 1961
"I am running to be the president who will pick up the pieces of our divided nation."
Pete Buttigieg, November, 2019, Iowa
The oldest boomers remember Camelot talk from their childhood. John F. Kennedy was our celebrity king, bringing us a golden age. We were to be led by the best and brightest. Young JFK was the handsome prince, home from war. His words were inspiring and poetic, "pay any price, bear any burden. . . . ask not what your country can do for you."
We had passed the torch. The misery came later. Bay of Pigs. Missile Crisis. Vietnam. But for a while we believed that maybe if new, smart people were running the government that the world would get better.
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| Buttigieg: 60 seconds |
This November, 2019 TV ad was Buttigieg's big introduction to Iowa.
He had already been going around the country, doing fundraisers and Town Halls in Iowa and New Hampshire, but November was special for Buttigieg and the others candidates. Each of them rolled out big introduction ads, saying this is who I am, my case.
He had already been going around the country, doing fundraisers and Town Halls in Iowa and New Hampshire, but November was special for Buttigieg and the others candidates. Each of them rolled out big introduction ads, saying this is who I am, my case.
Watch.
He opens with a shot from the rear, looking up, in a navy blue suit. It was JFK-like.
He is speaking in grand, political terms, voiced large, to a rapt, cheering crowd. Faces flash by. Tears. Hope. Inspiration.
And a musical underscore.
"I am running to be the president who will pick up the pieces of our divided nation. . . I am ready to gather up an American majority that is hungry for change, that is done with division. We will fight when we must fight, but I will never allow us to get so wrapped up in the fighting that we start to think fighting is the point. The point is what lies on the other side of the fight."
Pete Buttigieg inspires. His magic works best on older boomers--people who remember JFK in fact or myth. Buttigieg appeals to educated upscale urbanites, the "donor class" of Democrats who like and respect meritocratic success. They tend to trust smart people and experts to make good decisions. They believe that people like Pete Buttigieg are exactly the kinds of person prepared to make the best decisions in a republic, and certainly better ones than Donald Trump.
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| From Buttigieg video |
They are not the Democrats most burdened by the hollowing out of the middle class. They observe the winner-take-all income distribution organized by elites for the benefit of elites, but are not particularly burdened by it, nor by the national destruction of the financial system led by elites. They came out of it ok.
They aren't worried about getting health insurance, because they have health insurance--and homes and 401k accounts, too.
They aren't worried about getting health insurance, because they have health insurance--and homes and 401k accounts, too.
There is a younger, more bitter generation of Democrats who learned to distrust elites. For them, the relation between starting wages and the cost of college, rent, and health care have gone in different directions. They are the screwed generation, struggling to pay college debt, rent, health care.
The young woman in the photo here, from the Buttigieg video, is more likely to be inspired by Bernie Sanders' message that people like Pete Buttigieg and his donors stole her future. Buttigieg's biography embeds the meritocracy elite message at a time when respect for elites are at a low ebb. He was on the wrong side of history.
Pete Buttigieg adjusted, and he got lucky.
Elizabeth Warren made a strategic error. She adopted Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All approach just about the time voters realized that Medicare for All meant people currently happy with their insurance might lose it.
Elizabeth Warren made a strategic error. She adopted Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All approach just about the time voters realized that Medicare for All meant people currently happy with their insurance might lose it.
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| Click: Your Choice, 30 seconds |
It gave the Buttigieg campaign an opportunity to reverse polarity on the populist candidates. Buttigieg characterizes the Sanders and Warren approach as top down and compulsory, and therefore elitist. It feeds the meme of Socialist Bernie promoting government compulsion, and the meme of Elizabeth Warren as know-it-all. Meanwhile, Buttigieg represents popular choice.
His current ads show him in shirtsleeves, earnest, and face to face with the viewer.
Buttigieg has a difficult path. He exemplifies meritocratic elitism at the worst possible time for it, but he is smart, agile, and unencumbered by a history of past votes. It is a long shot, but he is adept at this, and Democrats like a fresh face.
Buttigieg has a difficult path. He exemplifies meritocratic elitism at the worst possible time for it, but he is smart, agile, and unencumbered by a history of past votes. It is a long shot, but he is adept at this, and Democrats like a fresh face.
4 comments:
Pete Buttigieg and the Generation Gap
A good name for a rock band... ;-)
Pete's first ad sounds as empty and vacuous as Obama's "Hope and Change." For people who got no change and have lost hope, it sounds pretty hollow.
Democrats will be taking a big risk if they nominate one of the candidates who have no empathy for the struggles of young Americans today. In this ad, a young woman says of Joe Biden: “Does he know what it’s like to carry $40,000 in college debt and have a minimum wage job?”
https://rootsaction.org/news-a-views/2138-millennials-react-to-joe-biden-in-ad-airing-on-the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-in-new-hampshire-
Americans are so pro-immigration they are now pushing American young people to emigrate to other countries as the only way to live a life that is not ruled by student loan debt and garnished wages and collection calls.
Albright’s credit score tanked as a result of his repayment troubles, making it difficult for him to buy a car and to land certain jobs, since some employers now pull credit reports. “I feel that college ruined my life,” Albright said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/25/they-fled-the-country-to-escape-their-student-debt.html
I am so left wing that if I were an airplane, I'd go in circles. BUT I want someone who can put Trump in his place, so I am voting for Bloomberg. He will make Trump squeal like the pig that he is.
https://bluevirginia.us/2019/11/some-pros-and-cons-of-a-michael-bloomberg-candidacy-for-president-in-2020
Can’t ignore the identity politics elephant in the room. Mayor Pete has many good attributes, to be sure—brains, charisma, interesting ideas, military experience and some political experience. But let’s face reality. All else being equal, all those good qualities, but he’s straight, not gay? If Pete had the chutzpah to even run in the first place, he’d be polling somewhere south of Marianne Williamson. No cover of Time Magazine. These are the values and priorities of the modern Democratic Party.
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