Buttigieg blames 'the failures of the Obama era' on ... the Republicans.

[crazytown]

On Obama: I think he did exactly as much could possibly have done within the constraints of the Congress he was dealing with.

On the defeats: One thing you can see is any assumptions, any decisions that are based on an assumption of good faith by the Republicans in the Senate will be defeated.

Buttigieg sees the failures of the Obama era as the failures of the political system. When one party is acting in bad faith 'it's just not working'. Rather than blaming an individual or administration, Pete is talking about systemic failure - political and economic, failures than can not be fixed by making trump an 'aberration' and 'restoring' an improved version of the Obama Administration.

Taken from Pete Buttigieg's interview with Ezra Klein, March 28, 2019
https://podcasts.apple.com/ee/podcast/pete-buttigiegs-theory-of-political-change/id1081584611?i=1000433877817

Klein: There's so much talk about what Democrats need to learn from Donald Trump, what do they need to learn from the Obama presidency, what do they need to learn from his presidency for the next Democratic president.

Buttigieg: Well, I think part of it, unfortunately, this is hopefully a short term lesson, but one thing you can see is any assumptions, any decisions that are based on an assumption of good faith by the Republicans in the Senate will be defeated. It's just not working that way right now. And at the same time, I also thing - this isn't a hit on Obama, I mean, I don't know how many months he had total when there were actually sixty votes for what he wanted to do, it wasn't many, so . If anything, one of the biggest lessons is the limitations of the American Presidency (with a hostile Congress).

Ezra Klein's Commentary

So far, I’ve found Buttigieg’s campaign underwhelming on policy. But where he’s clearly leading the field is his emphasis on structural reform. Buttigieg isn’t the only candidate with good ideas on this score — Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee have been strong on this too — but he’s the only candidate who consistently prioritizes the issue.

The reality is Democrats are debating ever more ambitious policy in a political system ever less capable of passing ambitious policy — and ever more stacked against their policies, in particular. Their geographic disadvantage in Congress is only getting worse, Republicans control the White House and the Senate despite receiving fewer votes for either, and an activist conservative Supreme Court just gutted public sector unions and green-lit partisan gerrymandering.

Policy isn’t Democrats’ problem. They’ve got plenty of plans. Some of them are even popular. What they don’t have is a political system in which they can pass and implement those plans.

Buttigieg, to his credit, has a clear theory on this. When I interviewed him in April, he argued that “any decisions that are based on an assumption of good faith by Republicans in the Senate will be defeated.” The hope that you can pass laws through bipartisan compromise is dead. And that means governance is consistently, reliably failing to solve people’s problems, which is in turn radicalizing them against government itself.

There’s nothing new about a Democratic candidate promising to fix the system. Obama ran on similar themes in 2008. House Democrats opened their session by passing a sweeping package of good-government reforms. But once Democrats take power, concrete policy change, with the immediate benefits it promises, tends to win out over the abstractions of procedural reform. It’s easier to run for reelection bragging about a tax cut than about weakening the Electoral College.

What’s different about Buttigieg is his insistence that he would prioritize political reforms over policy wins. “This is the difference between somebody who’s thinking about 2024 versus somebody who’s thinking about 2054,” he said. “To me, yes, it’s worth it because we’re talking about setting the terms of the debate as they will play out for the rest of my life.”

This is what Buttigieg gets: To make policy, you have to fix the policymaking process. Some of the other candidates pay that idea lip service, when they get pushed on it. But he’s the one who places that project at the center of his candidacy.

[AngelicaHora]

1. Buttigieg has been one of Obama's most outspoken defenders

Are people not paying attention to this guy or what? The reactions make it seem like this is the first time people have heard him talk about Obama.

[crazytown]

2. Pete has been quite clear on this from Day 1

The political and economic system has failed people. A rising tide does not lift all boats. Some are chained to the see floor - Buttigieg has never blamed Obama for system failure. That 'honor' belongs to Reagan's GOP and it's successors.

[msongs]

3. reactionairies taking statements out of context have their hair on fire lol nt

[emmaverybo]

4. There was a context, which made it all the more obvious that Buttigieg was criticizing the Obama

administration. He was referencing Biden, though not naming him, as looking to a past in the Obama years whereas he looked to a future because the failures of the Obama era had brought us
Trump,

Calling fellow Democrats reactionaries does not change the meaning of language in context. Citing
what Buttigieg said in the past does not change what he just said.

[Cha]

5. Thank you, emmaverybo..

well stated.

[crazytown]

8. I disagree. Strongly.

This is no different than Buttigieg has been saying for months.

[dsc]

9. He is rightly criticizing Biden for the delusional idea

that the GOP will suddenly cooperate when Trump is gone

[crazytown]

11. The GOP lock that jammed Obama's second term is not going away.

If anything the Republican base has become more extreme and uncompromising. Talk of an epiphany is ludicrous. We are talking hard politics here.

[crazytown]

10. I disagree. Strongly.

This is no different than Buttigieg has been saying for months. aka - We can't return to normal again, when that normal made it possible for a candidate like trump to come within cheating distance of the presidency. There is no honest politics that revolves around the word again. - This is in every stump speech.

[True Blue American]

14. Normal does not

Work against the crazies! Oops, message there?

[True Blue American]

6. For what it is worth

My opinion? Pete is absolutely right. I am disappointed with the other thread on the board that misused his words. He did not blame Obama! Quite the opposite!

It is not the Democrats that need to learn anything! The Republicans need to get rid of the psychological do nothing Leaders they keep electing!

Mitch McConnell is one of the worst Republican Leaders, ever in the Senate! He is a pathetic, vicious piece of humanity. Rand Paul, Poston and several others are just as bad.

Look for a wave of resignations before the election. It is coming.

[True Blue American]

7. Thank you for an honest top post!

[crazytown]

12. Pete Buttigieg talks about the failure of the political and economic system

Systemic failure. Pete is not blaming an individual or administration here. What is is criticizing in the belief, apparently shared by VP Biden, that we can restore the normal order of things, make trump an aberration, and supposedly make that system work, through GOP epiphanies or whatever - when all the the evidence is to the contrary. He, like Warren, sees the need for structural change.

[True Blue American]

13. And Pete is right!

Democrats keep talking about what they need to do but the fact is until Republicans get a spine, dump the do nothing Leaders and begin to work with Democrats nothing will change!

Mitch, looney tunes Graham, Rand Paul and the head pathological liar mafia boss wantabe, along with the enablers, dumb as a box of rocks, Kennedy, Jordan, Nunes, Gaetz and others need to be boxed up, sent into Neverland.

Edit! Pete is getting overwhelming response. I have made no decision, am enjoying watching the best of our party.

[blm]

16. That is the right path. Structural change is needed.

This thoughtful approach was key for me in putting Pete in my personal top tier.

I’m still not comfortable with his move to the center in recent months.

[patricia92243]

15. UPDATE: the author has said he was misquoted and apologized - a lot.