Opinion: What Democrats can learn from Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., in Greenville, S.C., on Saturday. By Jennifer Rubin Jennifer Rubin Opinion writer covering politics and policy, foreign and domestic Email Bio Follow Opinion writer March 25 at 1:30 PM South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg has attained the position of the most appealing underdog in the Democratic presidential primary race. He broke through the media chatter, something only a handful of candidates have done.
Buttigieg is not a self-absorbed Gen Xer, a Hamlet-like figure who emerges from a funk to tell us — really nothing of interest.Buttigieg is not a raving socialist promising to burn down the system.Buttigieg is not running as an insider, ready to spin the dials and flip switches to make the creaky system work somewhat better.Buttigieg is not particularly interested in talking about President Trump.
Buttigieg is very intelligent and fluent in multiple languages. He served in the military. He is devoted to his one and only spouse. He is entirely capable of discussing most any public policy issue, including foreign policy. He is earnest and radiates kindness. He doesn’t assume his audience is uniformed or foolish. And most of all, though he is being himself, he manages not to make his race about himself.
Perhaps his success to date tells us the secret to unifying the country does not rest with fighting Trumpian fire with fire nor in being a celebrity candidate of the left. The secret to unifying the country, to underscoring Trump’s total unfitness to hold office and to breaking through the media noise is to eschew cynicism and artifice. Refusing to sound like a politician running for president or to buy into the media narrative makes him unique in a pack of sameness.
“Authenticity” gets one only so far, of course. Once voters discover he’s really who he says he is, they have to like what they see. Buttigieg has tapped into something Democrats want badly — a decent and smart person. They want to believe character still counts. And that has nothing to do with whether you check the box on a meaningless catchphrase or whether you can pander to one faction of the Democratic Party.
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