What Pete Buttigieg Tells Us About Changing Times

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/what-pete-buttigieg-tells-us-about-changing-times-11554730353

By Gerald F. Seib at the Wall Street Journal


"SNIP.....

The two big ideological movements of the last four decades, Ronald Reagan conservatism and Bill Clinton centrism, may have run their course. Mr. Buttigieg argues that the rise and persistence of income inequality has undermined many of the assumptions about the virtues of Reaganesque supply-side economics, and that simply being positioned in the center, between conservatives and liberals, isn’t satisfying to voters today either.

What comes next isn’t clear. “The moment that we’re in is kind of illegible in giving us much insight on what comes next,” he said. “That really will be decided by what happens now. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to get in.”

So Mr. Buttigieg calls himself a progressive, but also a capitalist, and declines to place himself on an ideological spectrum. He notes that President Trump was elected without a clear ideology, and that election results in his home county of St. Joseph, Ind., show that some voters have in recent years gone for Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Mike Pence—and him.

He points to that not just as a sign that he can attract voters in the industrial Midwest, but that ideological arguments don’t motivate voters as much as they do commentators and political activists. “It’s true as ever that you’ve got to appeal to independents, but it’s less true than ever before that ideological centrism is the way to do it,” he says.


....SNIP"

[jezebel321]

1. I'm this close to moving from undecided to picking

Mayor Pete. The problem is we have such a plethora of riches. So many good candidates to choose from.

[applegrove]

2. Yes. There a many great candidates. And they sizzle.

[question everything]

3. The horror, quoting from the WSJ

Actually, Seib is a very good commentator and not as rabid as others.

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4. I had to sneak in because of the paywall to make sure it was not some nut.

I didn't have enough time to read the whole article beyond what I captured. I thought it sounded important.

[question everything]

5. More..

Imagine two decades ago, or even one, that the 37-year-old, openly gay mayor of a medium-size American city appeared on stage and declared he was running for president. He either would have been laughed off that stage, or widely ignored. Today, that person, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, isn’t simply making a run, he may be the hottest candidate in the land. He raised more than $7 million in the first quarter of the year, has qualified for Democratic primary debates, has moved the needle with policy proposals and is getting wide media attention, including an appearance on “Meet the Press” Sunday.

Much of this surprising evolution comes because of Mr. Buttigieg’s own intelligence and considerable political skill set, of course. But his candidacy also is both a sure sign of, and a result of, the destruction of the old political patterns. The long-prevailing rules of politics are shattered, the dominance of the traditional political establishment has waned, and there are no clear rules about what comes next. The Buttigieg candidacy, in short, is a sign that the political system is at an inflection point, and voters are prepared to think outside the box. “I’ve bet a lot on that premise,” Mr. Buttigieg said in an interview. Put another way, as different as the two men are in most every way, Candidate Buttigieg might not exist without the example of President Trump, who shattered expectations and all the old paradigms in 2016.

(snip)

The Buttigieg burst also tells us two other things. First, in the new media environment, a candidate doesn’t need the same kind of establishment credentials as before to rise. A personality and a message have a much better chance of breaking through on their own—as, once again, President Trump proved.

And second, in a time of both deep polarization in Washington, and anger at the capital around the country, voices from outside the Beltway are credible. “A lot of good government is happening in obscurity at the local and state level,” says Mr. Buttigieg. There should be no illusions: Mr. Buttigieg’s record in South Bend isn’t perfect, and the climb from there to the White House is incredibly steep. But in attempting it, Pete Buttigieg is revealing some important truths about the nature of the political times.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-pete-buttigieg-tells-us-about-changing-times-11554730353 (paid subscription)

[applegrove]

6. Thank you so much. Paywall work around did not work for me. But thanks for

the other parts. At the very least Buttgieg will force all the top democrat primary candidates to really think and source new and interesting ideas.