Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Pete Buttigieg: First Impressions



After you have read four articles on Pete Buttigieg, it is fair to say you are no Pete Buttigieg expert, and I make no such claim. For a guy who was Barack Obama's first full-time volunteer in all of New York City - me - I am proudly a detached spectator this election season. And so, considering yesterday was the first time I looked into Pete ought to tell you. People are not paying attention just yet. Those who worry Pete is lagging in South Carolina don't remember Hillary was leading Obama by a wide margin in South Carolina at this stage of the game. South Carolina was talked of as Hillary's "firewall." That wall collapsed overnight, literally, when Obama won Iowa. To me it is a foregone conclusion that should Pete win both Iowa and New Hampshire, he will very likely be the nominee. I would give him a 95% chance.

So what are my first impressions? First of, this guy is not policy timid like the media makes him out to be. I found him anything but. He comes across as less policy timid than everyone who made a go at it over the past four decades. And it is partly him, mostly that Reagan, as he points out, has run out of steam.

The biggest lie about him is that Bernie and Warren are for Medicare For All, but Pete is not all that. He is very much for Medicare For All, but he thinks it needs to be phased in. And when phasing in if people who have private insurers wish to keep it that way, why not? If you listen to Pete, he is basically criticizing Bernie and Warren for not having thought this through. There is definitely anxiety among the 150 million-plus who have private insurance. They are not opposed to others having health care. But they hear Medicare For All and they hear, looks like Bernie wants me to take off my oxygen mask. That anxiety is real. And it is a symptom that Bernie has not done a good job of selling whatever it is that he is selling.



Pete is policy bold. I was surprised to learn. I should not have been. On politics, he is both agile and steel. More surprising than his policy boldness is that this guy is tough. Of all the Dems running, Donald Trump, if it is him and not Pence for some reason, would have the hardest time pushing Pete around. And he pushed everybody around in 2016.

Pete is the polar opposite of Trump on good manners and basic decency. Donald Trump gives you the impression his mother taught him table manners which he forgot at his mother's dinner table. I mean, the guy was discussing his penis size at a presidential debate during the 2016 cycle. Children are supposed to learn civics lessons from their president. Not from Donald though. Pete is amazingly decent. And after a few years of Donald, you thought that had gone to disuse.



Trump is fake tough. Trump is stupid tough. It is immigrants not automation. Pete is genuinely tough. He is comfortable enough in his toughness that he is not worried decency will cut him out to be a loser.

And Pete is young. That is no small detail. Half the field is way past retirement age. That makes Pete stand out. There is a freshness to his appeal.

I have yet to watch videos of Pete. I would like to watch a few hours of him. I have not yet watched even 10 minutes, I don't think so. YouTube makes you feel you can always look him up, so why rush!

If I had to take a guess, I'd say Pete might pick Andrew Yang for running mate, or someone who is not even running. If AOC were old enough, she would have been great, but she is not yet 35.

My first impressions of Pete Buttigieg are that he is a great human being, a great politician, and a remarkable policy guy. He would make for an excellent nominee.





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Kamala Pete 2020

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