Uninspired by the crop of 2020 Democrats? Keep your eyes on Mayor Pete

[babylonsister]

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/enterthefray/la-oe-warnke-pete-buttigieg-2020-election-20190318-story.html?fbclid=IwAR0v9bF_E07bxPd0uP2wnh2L6eirCgbG47e8rOknm_rmuGoArlNw9hiE07U

Uninspired by the crop of 2020 Democrats? Keep your eyes on Mayor Pete
By Melissa Batchelor Warnke
Mar 18, 2019 | 10:50 AM

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If elected — and I fully appreciate that we’re 20 months away from that “if” — Buttigieg would become both the youngest and the first openly gay president in U.S. history. Buttigieg, now 37, has broken records before; when he took office as mayor of South Bend in 2012, he became the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. He came out publicly in an essay in the South Bend Tribune during his reelection campaign in 2015, writing that “for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn’t know anyone gay, perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we’re all in this together as a community.” His husband Chasten Buttigieg, a teacher, is often by his side.

What of Buttigieg’s politics? At a glance, they look pretty, pretty, pretty good from my progressive vantage point. He raised the minimum wage for South Bend city employees, set to patching the city’s potholes and spearheaded its “1,000 houses in 1,000 days” initiative, which restored or demolished abandoned homes. On the national level, Buttigieg supports the Green New Deal, single-payer healthcare (with an all-payer rate-setting transition) and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. What’s the current line in Vegas on whether a mayor whom the right will inevitably brand as a gay socialist can win the presidency?

That may well depend on whether millennials and Gen Z-ers, who will together comprise 37% of the 2020 electorate, show up to vote.

Plus, it’ll take some maneuvering for conservatives to write Buttigieg off as just another spendy Bolshevik snowflake. For one, Trump won Indiana by nearly 20 points; it’s not easily caricatured Connecticut or California. In 2014, Buttigieg served as an officer in Afghanistan, and he remains a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve. Buttigieg has worked for corporate-friendly consulting firms such as McKinsey and the Cohen Group, founded by former Secretary of Defense (and moderate Republican) William Cohen.

Much of my initial Buttigieg interest is sparked by his willingness to challenge long-established political narratives (long-battled, too, including by Sanders, the subject of a reverent essay Buttigieg wrote in high school). Democrats “are not yet comfortable working in a vocabulary of ‘freedom,’ ” Buttigieg told the New York Times in 2016. “Conservatives talk about freedom. They mean it. But they’re often negligent about the extent to which things other than government make people unfree.” Language matters — and Buttigieg speaks like someone who realizes its power. He’s both plainspoken and fun to listen to. He’s got a touch of Obama, whose campaign he canvassed for in 2008. (In 2016, the former president included Buttigieg in a short list of Democrats to watch.) That’ll liven up the debates.

Between now and those debates, which start in June, you’ll want to learn Mayor Pete’s name. For the record, it’s pronounced BOOT-edge-edge.

[NurseJackie]

1. When I see his name my mind says "Booty-gig". (I'm old-school phonics with American pronunciation...

When I see his name my mind says "Booty-gig". (I'm old-school phonics with American pronunciation rules.)

For the record, it’s pronounced BOOT-edge-edge.

I thought it was pronounced as "BOOT-uh-judge" instead of "edge edge". Which is closest?

[babylonsister]

2. I have no idea! Mayor Pete works for now, for me.

I hope I know it like the back of my hand before this is over.

[NurseJackie]

3. As unfair as it may be, I think an "unpronounceable" name...

As unfair as it may be, I think an "unpronounceable" name (or one that's difficult to pronounce, or one with a pronunciation that bears little resemblance to the letters used to spell it) will work against a candidate. I believe this is true even in the business world to some extent as well.

Anyway, that's just my observation. Not that I agree with it or anything.

[Autumn]

7. He pronounces it Boot edge edge. Say it fast.

He's remarkable. I think the thought that we should or must elect an experienced Senator, or governor should be put in a box and tossed in a live volcano. This man is the real deal. You listen to him and he makes more sense in 15 minutes than I have ever heard from any other politician in a life time.

[pamdb]

4. Pete

I really really like him but he won’t get it. No one can pronounce his last name and he’s a married gay guy? Not in this backward country. If even settle for VP. If he even gets close you can beg pious pence will have everyone in Indiana looking under every rock for anything bad about mayor Pete.

[babylonsister]

5. Did you think a black guy would become president?

Never say never.

[patricia92243]

6. I'm 100% for him, but it worries me that Beto raises so much money and Pete not so much.

They will be going after a lot of the same voters in the Primary, I think.

[dalton99a]

8. How will he debate Bernie?

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/profile-in-courage-essay-contest/past-winning-essays/2000-winning-essay-by-peter-buttigieg

[California_Republic]

9. Cool style