Why Pete Buttigieg Enrages the Young Left

[brooklynite]

Politico

Why is the enmity from young, left-wing activists toward Buttigieg so visceral? It’s true that they favor Bernie Sanders, but Buttigieg comes in for a type of loathing that surpasses even that they hold for Sanders’ older rivals, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.

The Los Angeles Times’ Matt Pearce compiled a list of potential explanations on Twitter, including that the left may perceive him as a traitor to his generation, a stark opportunist, or the representative of a shadowy and discredited D.C. professional class. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson also surveyed the theories, ultimately concluding that the continuity with the Obama era that Buttigieg promises might be too much for progressives to stomach. The answer, of course, is likely “all of the above.”

But those explanations are still too general to explain the fury inspired by a fourth-place presidential contender and Midwestern college-town mayor. And it’s not his ideology: The resentment he inspires runs much deeper than that earned by the Amy Klobuchars and Michael Bennets of the world—both of whom have more politically moderate tendencies than Buttigieg, who has, among other positions, argued for raising the minimum wage to $15, introducing a public health care option, expanding the size of the Supreme Court and abolishing the Electoral College. (Asked for comment for this article, a representative from the Buttigieg campaign told Politico that staffers are occasionally vexed by the cold reception to a platform that’s well to the left of any recent Democratic presidential nominee.)

The unspoken truth about the furor Buttigieg arouses is that his success threatens a core belief of young progressives: that their ideology owns the future, and that the rise of millennials into Democratic politics is going to bring an inevitable demographic triumph for the party’s far left wing.

[W_HAMILTON]

1. Because he's not Sanders and he's doing well in the polls.

If any other candidate were in his place (leading in certain polls in Iowa), the online left would find reasons to hate them as well and try to smear them to hurt their chances in order to better Sanders's chances. That's all there is to it.

[Bradshaw3]

13. Absurd ad hominem, baseless attack

Based on projection. But it's good you finally changed your prefence to the candidate you've backed all along.

[W_HAMILTON]

16. It's not baseless to anyone that has actually interacted with those militant online left types.

And I haven't backed Biden all along or else I would have had him as my choice all along. I think I've had Buttigieg, Beto, and Warren all as my choice at any particular time, and I've donated to all of those candidates and even more to show my support for them at various times.

You apparently have that false notion that most Democrats are the enemy -- they're not. Outside of a few disruptor candidates that spend most of their time attacking Democrats, I would be fine with most any of our candidates. To those of us that realize that the vast majority of Democrats agree on the vast majority of the issues, this isn't a surprise.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Though you appear to think "the online left" is an enemy.

Look at how you've just attacked them in your posts. I can't, however, see an attack on "most Democrats" in the post you replied to.

[W_HAMILTON]

18. That's because I do think they are an enemy.

Those Jill Stein-supporting types that trash Democrats and the Democratic Party more than they do Trump and his Republicans and only use our party to further their agenda are not our -- meaning Democrats -- allies.

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. You don't seem to think anyone in the Democratic party is on the left

Is "left" so bad to you, that it's - what? The most extreme 5%? Less? If you think a typical characteristic is "Stein-supporting", then maybe 1%.

Maybe someone has persuaded you think think that "left" is wrong. I'd suggest that it'd make sense to think of "the left" as a third of the country.

[W_HAMILTON]

21. I explained the exact people that I was referring to.

And it's also the exact people that were being referred to in the article that initiated this thread.

And the small percentage of Stein-supporting disruptor types don't get to claim the mantle of being "the left" -- they're not. They are a small group of fringe extremists that think their loud online voices speak for the rest of us -- they do not.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. This is who you said:

"the online left" (everyone's online these days, and their use of technology seems irrelevant, so that's the whole left). Then "militant online left" (so you've added 'militant'. So it's people who are active and vocal. Do you think that calling people "disruptors", "fringe extremists", or falsely accusing a DUer of thinking "most Democrats are the enemy" might get you called "militant"? I do).

Then you realise that maybe this blanket condemnation of the left may not look good, so you claim that being a member of the left really means supporting Stein. But that's far from what you said before. One of the "exact" people was a fellow DUer, who supports Warren.

[Blue_true]

23. The person did NOT say that being on the left meant supporting Stein.

You made that claim up out of fucking thin air. In my world, anyone that couldn't see the clear difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016 isn't worth spending a fucking second on and should be treated as hostile to all I believe in, I really don't give a shit about what they call themselves or what they declare they believe in, they enabled a fucking monster and that is all that I give a shit about.

[betsuni]

25. +1

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. That was in reply #18

In #17, I said they seemed to see the left as an enemy, and they replied "I do think they are an enemy. Those Jill Stein-supporting types".

So, no, that's not out of thin air; it's what they said.

I think it's damaging to define "the left" as "Stein supporters". It changes the term "left" into something meaning a tiny minority of people with weird views; and if people on DU can state "I think the left are an enemy", it'll encourage the right wing to say anyone on the left is "an enemy" of the USA, and they'll include all Democrats in that (because, they'll say, the Democrats are known by many people as "on the left" - and in that detail, they'd be right).

[Blue_true]

31. I am a person of the left. And I loath Jill Stein, Ralph Nader and the

people that voted for them in 2000 and 2016.

The poster was very specific, the enemy are the people that were idiotic enough to vote for Nader in 2000 and Stein in 2016, that is NOT the left. A true left-leaning democrat knew how foolish such a vote was and voted for the Democratic Party nominee.

Again, you obstructed your charge against the poster out of thin air. Maybe the issue is that ANYONE who would remotely consider voting third party in a pivotal election like 2000 and 2016 is NOT a person of the left, but instead is a fucking anarchist.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. As I already told you, the poster said they think "the online left" are an enemy

They said that directly. They then said that meant, to them, people who voted for Stein. I have not made this up "from thin air"; it's in this thread. If you think that the left is Democrats, and not Stein voters, then your position seems to be far closer to mine than to W_Hamilton's. Maybe you should take it up with them.

[Blue_true]

33. We're have to agree to disagree. I read your posts and normally don't

have issues with them, but this case is an exception.

[LAS14]

2. I think this para nails it. And it depresses me.

The unspoken truth about the furor Buttigieg arouses is that his success threatens a core belief of young progressives: that their ideology owns the future, and that the rise of millennials into Democratic politics is going to bring an inevitable demographic triumph for the party’s far left wing.

[LongtimeAZDem]

14. Yep, and the poll posted earlier disputes their notion

66. Democratic Party Ideology
Is the Democratic Party...

Not Liberal Enough:

Total: 13%

Male: 12%
Female: 14%

18-29: 18%
30-44: 16%
45-64: 10%
65+: 9%

White: 13%
Black: 9%
Hispanic: 16%
Other: 10%

Dem: 20%
Ind: 12%
Rep: 4%

<$50k: 13%
$50-100k: 13%
$100k+: 14%

Northeast: 12%
Midwest: 14%
South: 12%
West: 15%

Voters: 13%
Dem Pri: 23%

Clinton: 13%
Trump: 2%

Liberal: 30%
Moderate: 8%
Conserv: 6%

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/2r6hyqtv9p/econTabReport.pdf

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. "Buttigieg isn't just an ideological foe, he's worse than that: He's a square."

Nailed it. Maybe it would help with that crowd if he got a man-bun and a soul patch.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. Thanks for the visual I got from that.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. He looks like he was in "Up With People".

Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2020, 09:49 AM - Edit history (1)

[not_the_one]

24. If I remember correctly, it was "Up WITH People"...

Up THE People could mean something else entirely...

[greatauntoftriplets]

30. Thanks, that is what I meant.

I'll fix it.

[George II]

4. It's Politico, and the sub-heading shows the real motivation of the article....

...."and not just because he’s challenging Bernie." (highlighting mine)

In other words, it IS because he's challenging Bernie.

Unfortunately Politico is becoming a media outlet of the Sanders Campaign.

[brooklynite]

19. I thought POLITICO was a "right-wing rag"...

Can we try to keep our conspiracies straight?

[comradebillyboy]

5. When I was young I couldn't understand why everyone else

didn't share my worldview since it was so obviously correct.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. LOL! I remember those days, and how frustrating it was

to discover that there were people who had the temerity to disagree with my totally correct world view. As you get older you start discovering the concept of nuance, not to mention the possibility that you and your cohort might sometimes even be wrong about some things, but that takes awhile.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Thank you for posting this excerpt, my dear brooklynite!

It raises some points that I had wondered about and helped me understand why Pete comes in for the type of criticism that he does.

Very clarifying!

[crazytown]

7. Not just the young left.

Pete is bombing with young people in general and young AAs in particular.

[frazzled]

11. And why older folks love him

On the one hand, it's the adolescent animus toward the "smart kid"; you know, the one who excels in academics and gets all the awards and is so goody-goody, does everything adults admire. (Obama, who was equally smart and accomplished, had the good idea to openly declare what a screw-up he had been in his youth. That gave him some cred with young voters, who like to see their own screw-ups mirrored.)

On the other, it's the mature population that thinks, "I wish my son were like that. The perfect kid you wouldn't have to worry about." And feeling the weariness beginning to set in in their own bones, they're looking for someone from a new generation with energy and fresh ideas, but one who isn't shooting for a moon they know doesn't exist.

It's the bizarre phenomenon of the young (having not lived through earlier decades) thinking Grandpa Bernie is some kind of visionary while the "mature" (I don't want to say old) are thinking Young Pete has all the right stuff. Never seen this before. Perhaps it's a function of our older generation having been the revolutionary ideologues themselves not so long ago, and having grown out of its zealotry (now seeing Mao and Daniel Ortega, who they once idolized, for the autocrats they really were). The young generation of ideologues will have a similar experience in another decade or two, most likely.

[ritapria]

12. Pete supported MFA in 2018 , praised it as "moderate" alternative in 2019

Now he supports the public option - as the healthcare campaign funding arrives … That's old school politics ...The young people are more idealistic than their older counterparts ….

[Locrian]

29. and they have noticed it....

The real time evolution (devolution?) from progressive to mainstream centrist candidate.
Meaningless phrases like "medcare for all who want it" (fire protection for those who want it?!)
etc

And they find it another nauseating example of saying anything to get elected vs having any real conviction and consistency.

[dsc]

34. that is flat out false

He made quite clear in that interview he meant a public option which Medicare for All encompassed at the time. It is people on the pro public takeover side who changed what words meant.

[Martin Eden]

15. If there is such fury, it's badly misplaced

Save it for Trump and the Republicans, not our candidates.

[betsuni]

26. Such hate. Like in "The Last Emperor" when the kid says, "Join us, comrade, or fuck off," then

the old man is thrown to the ground.

[Recursion]

27. I've noticed Twitter is full of "Pete Buttigieg wants to kill my family"

I realize it's rhetorically powerful, but this kind of crap is beyond stupid. Way too many people have confused universal health care, the goal, with one particular financing model for it that Sanders happens to like, a means to that end.

[dsc]

35. but if we dare say that anti gay animus might be part of the problem we are considered nuts

He has the exact same position as Biden, Klobochar, Bennet, Bloomburg, and Booker yet none of them get accused of this on Twitter. Only this candidate, the one who happens to be openly gay, gets this on Twitter. I am sure it is a coincidence.

[Hortensis]

36. The "young left" is corrected/clarified to "far left wing" in the article.

This below rings very true because we see it every day on these forums:

Buttigieg's "success threatens a core belief ... that their ideology owns the future, and that the rise of millennials into Democratic politics is going to bring an inevitable demographic triumph for the party’s far left wing."

Of course. Those prone to extremism are doomed to always be enraged by control of LW politics by the much larger large liberal mainstream. Extremism always requires profound dishonesty to support its views, detaching from reality. And that almost always includes seeing theirs as the true will of the people. Thus, in 2016 Sanders was the true choice of the majority and could only have lost because of massive election theft by the evil Democratic establishment.

And of course these eternal betrayals don't just justify but require extreme reprisals and whatever their noble crusade must do to win.

I didn't know why poor Mayor Buttigieg was drawing so much uber-passionate, and typically nasty, enmity. But if his very existence contradicted their most cherished, most needed belief? Of course. Inevitable.