BTRTN: Pete Buttigieg... Jimmy Carter Redux?

[reggieandlee]

Born To Run The Numbers provides perspective on the Pete Buttigieg phenomenon by noting the similarities between 1976 and 2020.

http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2019/04/btrtn-pete-buttigieg-jimmy-carter-redux.html

Excerpts:
"A Republican administration is reeling from the stench of unprecedented scandal. The incumbent Republican President is tarnished, widely unpopular, and considered such a buffoon that he is constantly ridiculed and lampooned by late night comedians. Democrats feel they have a clear shot to take back the White House, and a full seventeen candidates announce campaigns for the Presidency. We are not talking about 2020. We are describing 1976..."

"But the most brilliant tactic Carter employed was to market himself precisely on his lack of association with Washington and traditional politics. Carter was so unknown that the newspaper in the biggest city in the state where he has served as governor – the Atlanta Constitution -- ran this headline: “Jimmy Who is Running for What?” Carter intuited that a candidate wholly insulated from the industrial grade waste Americans saw in Washington, D.C. was best positioned to win in 1976..."

"Being the telegenic and media savvy 37-year-old gay mayor of a modest midwestern city alone is a package that seems a million miles from the crusty old farts club in Washington, D.C. If America craves an outsider, Pete Buttigieg is not just outside of geographic proximity of the nation’s capital, he is outside of the typical candidate resume, outside the age norm, and outside of sexual orientation norm. Pete Buttigieg is turning the Democratic party inside out...

[Exotiki]

1. Yes, minus the experience

When Carter ran in 1976, he had been both senator and governor of the state level, whereas Buttigieg is Mayor of a medium sized town.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I've been watching Mayor Pete...

...and he's brilliant individual. I would rank him with Carter-level intelligence (President Carter was one of the smartest individuals to ever hold the highest office).

[Renew Deal]

3. And they were both in the Navy

[yardwork]

4. And Carter was a highly ineffectual president because he couldn't get along with Congress.

I have a lot of respect for Jimmy Carter. He's a genuinely decent, kind person who has done a lot of good in the world. His four years as president, however, were a big disappointment. He managed to squander having a strong Democratic majority in Congress, showing remarkable ineptness in getting any significant legislation passed. We missed our chance to have meaningful health reform in the 1970s, for instance. That's when we should have passed universal health insurance. Public dissatisfaction with Carter led to the Reagan revolution in 1980, a complete disaster for the world.

Of course, the media was complicit.

[reggieandlee]

6. All good points...

Totally agree with Carter's shortcomings once he was elected.
This article was intended to focus on the analogies between 1976 and 2020 regarding the political context and Carter's rise to the nomination, and why that might explain the extraordinary appeal of a 37 year old mayor of a small city.
It was not intended to be extended to a commentary or prediction on the kind of President that Buttigieg might become.
Indeed, the record that Buttigieg has accomplished as mayor of South Bend is quite impressive, and worth noting that he was re-elected by a stupendous margin... roughly 80%.

[yardwork]

9. I agree, but ever since Carter, I'm skeptical of "We need an outsider."

[reggieandlee]

10. Where the parallels end...

The ambition of this article was only to point out the contextual parallels that gave rise to Carter and now may be working in favor of Buttigieg in the race for the nomination... not to make a statement about Buttigieg's potential to serve as President, or that he would become a president in the mold of Carter. I am actually quite impressed by Buttigieg's record as mayor of South Bend, and the fact that he was re-elected mayor with 80% of the vote hints that he may have more executive and leadership chops than Carter.

[IluvPitties]

8. Good analysis.

[dalton99a]

5. This assumes a desire to replace an outsider with an outsider

[marylandblue]

7. That's been our desire for most elections since Carter.

The only non-incumbent who won without being an outsider was Bush I. In 2008, McCain, a consummate insider, ran as a "maverick," that is, I am an insider, but not reallyone of them.

In some of the most critical elections in our history, we turned to.outsiders -Jackson in 1828, Lincoln in 1860, Roosevelt in 1932 and Reagan in 1980.

Buttigieg is not the only outsider running, he is just the most obvious non-traditional candidate. Others are making outsider arguments to various degrees. Only Biden is running as a true insider.