# Who is Pete Buttigieg? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 12, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032 "2019-03-12T21:59:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 33
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/641 "2020-10-15T12:31:02Z")
Bumped. > **[Analysis: Why Pete Buttigieg's Fox News appearances keep going viral | CNN...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/14/media/pete-buttigieg-fox-news/index.html)** > > Pete Buttigieg has been making media appearances as a surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign — showing up on national TV networks and on Instagram Live. But Buttigieg's hits on Fox News have been gaining attention for his ability to cut through the... ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/642 "2020-10-15T12:58:18Z")
It was refreshing to see him on Colbert recently following a debate. He is as reasonable and persuasive as ever. Will be interesting to see how a (if successful) Biden administration will make use of him. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/643 "2020-10-15T13:14:28Z")
I think he’d be best suited to be HUD Secretary, or maybe Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in a God-willing Biden Administration. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/644 "2020-10-15T13:40:31Z")
Every time I watch him speak publicly I am reminded of why I supported him in the nomination campaign and why I still firmly believe he would have been, by far, the best choice in the Democratic Party field for 2020 and beyond. I certainly hope this is not the last we see of him as a contender for the nomination for POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/645 "2020-10-15T14:16:23Z")
Personally, I don’t give a fuck about veterans’ issues, so I’d consider him wasted at the VA. And while HUD handles many vital matters, I think something higher profile would better position him to be a leader in coming decades. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/646 "2020-10-15T15:43:28Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Personally, I don’t give a fuck about veterans’ issues, so I’d consider him wasted at the VA I give a fuck about veterans’ issues, but there are plenty of competent people who can run the VA I agree that Pete should be given a higher profile position. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/647 "2020-12-15T20:28:20Z")
He’s likely the next Secretary of Transportation, that’s who he is: > **[Joe Biden picks Pete Buttigieg to be transportation secretary | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/15/politics/pete-buttigieg-transportation-secretary/index.html)** > > Joe Biden will nominate Pete Buttigieg to be his transportation secretary, the president-elect said in a statement on Tuesday, elevating the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to a top post in the federal... ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/648 "2020-12-16T04:06:10Z")
I couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe if he’d won the nomination. But. Pete is going to be great as Sec Trans. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/649 "2020-12-16T05:18:59Z")
I always thought Sec. Trans was a traditionally nothingberder of a position – something presidents would often give to someone of the opposite party just to look bipartisan. But for someone like Buttigieg with no Washington experience, it’s a foot in the door, an entry-level position where he can collect some DC experience and work his way up. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/650 "2020-12-16T05:29:43Z")
I like Mayor Pete, but it would have been a landslide… for trump. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/651 "2020-12-16T06:26:41Z")
No way. Where are you going to find more homophobes to vote against the Dem candidate? Trump got the second most votes ever for a candidate. He turned out the base BIG time. You’d need to turn Dem voters and I doubt you’d get many there. The Dem vote was more anti-Trump than it was pro-Biden. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/652 "2020-12-16T06:34:09Z")
The vote was close, all you need is a bunch of older people with outdated ways of thinking, etc. Joe won as he was vanilla and likeable, and the worst they could throw at him was his son. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/653 "2020-12-16T06:37:35Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Joe won as he was vanilla and likeable, and the worst they could throw at him was his son. Meh…we hear this line all the time. Stuff like, “Sanders will lose in a landslide as his opponents call him a liberal commie!” Then we get milquetoast Biden who is less commie-like and his opponents run around screaming how Biden is a total commie! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/654 "2020-12-16T06:43:53Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > “Sanders will lose in a landslide as his opponents call him a liberal commie!” Yep, he would have. Pretty much, _every_ other candidate would have lost. Biden was the only one who had a chance, what with widespread GOP cheating… called Voter suppression. Not to mention tens of millions of voters brainwashed by Conservative talk radio. And this will continue. Trump will run in 2024, mark my words, and will likely win the Nomination, Republicans are now too gutless to run against him. There aint ten GOP leaders with a backbone. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/655 "2020-12-16T06:51:48Z")
You seem to think there were a lot of Trump voters who only _barely_ managed to vote for Biden this time because Biden was just _barely_ likeable enough. I don’t think you have any evidence for that and remember, Trump turned out more votes for a candidate than _anyone else in history except for Biden in the same election._ I think it is safe to say Trump got nearly all of the votes he could get. You need to find a lot of fence sitters who only _barely_ tilted for Biden and for whom Mayor Pete or Sanders would be just too much and tilt to Trump. I think you and some others on this board are so completely freaked out by someone like Sanders winning that you overestimate how many people would defect to vote for Trump on a Sanders ticket. We have been through this before on this board (many times) but there is good evidence to believe Sanders would have won in 2016 where Clinton lost. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/656 "2020-12-16T14:26:43Z")
> **[Why does Pete Buttigieg want to be transportation secretary? | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/15/politics/pete-buttigieg-joe-biden-transportation-secretary/index.html)** > > Quick: Name President Donald Trump's transportation secretary. Chances are you can't. (It's Elaine Chao, who also happens to be married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.) Which says something about the profile of the average transportation... > **[The extraordinary rise of Pete Buttigieg | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/16/opinions/buttigieg-transportation-biden-cabinet-mitchell/index.html)** > > Lincoln Mitchell writes that the news that Pete Buttigieg will be President-elect Joseph Biden's nominee for transportation secretary is the latest step in an extraordinary political journey. "As Buttigieg is about to become the youngest member of... ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/657 "2020-12-16T15:03:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > You seem to think there were a lot of Trump voters who only _barely_ managed to vote for Biden this time because Biden was just _barely_ likeable enough. At least in Georgia there were plenty of vote splitters. Folks that voted for Biden and also voted for Perdue for Senate (the other Senate seat was a jungle election - and the Republican candidates got more votes than the Democratic ones). Just from anecdotal evidence, I know some of those folks were more moderate Republicans who likely wouldn’t have voted Sanders (they would done Jorgenson or left the top of the ticket blank), but they may have voted Buttigieg. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/658 "2020-12-16T16:03:45Z")
Nothing about Biden excites me other than the fact that he was elected. My personal opinion is that last month’s election was close - and stressful - enough. My non-expert WAG is that a significant # of people voted for Biben BOTH because he isn’t as crazy and incompetent as Trump, but ALSO because he is entirely nonthreatening. I’m not eager to try to run the maths to figure out how many folk would have changed their votes had Pete/ Kamala/Bernie been the nominee. I’m happy to have Pete or Kamala (or someone else young/nonwhite male/progressive) lead the ticket in 24. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/659 "2020-12-16T18:33:19Z")
Yeah, this is a excellent post. Of course the GOP can try to make Joe seem “threatening” but he just aint. And Joe is _likeable_, which Hillary, Sanders and others simply werent. True, Pete does seem likable also, so I foresee a great political future for him, but time will tell. **JOB One** was " **Dump Trump"** and I was unwilling to take any risks to get that done. Mind you, dont get the idea I didnt like Biden from the start, I certainly did, his moderate liberal politics match mine pretty closely. I liked Petes ideas also, but I knew he had no chance. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/660 "2020-12-19T01:02:01Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I always thought Sec. Trans was a traditionally nothingberder of a position – something presidents would often give to someone of the opposite party just to look bipartisan. But for someone like Buttigieg with no Washington experience, it’s a foot in the door, an entry-level position where he can collect some DC experience and work his way up. There’s no question that Transportation has been a nothingburger of a position in years past. But what gets me is: how do you deal with global warming without, in part, addressing transportation issues? How much carbon goes into our atmosphere from cars and trucks and airplanes and so forth? The job of the next Secretary of Transportation should be to figure out how to reduce this as much as possible, and given that there’s not likely to be a big pot of money for [Atrios]SUPERTRAINS[/Atrios], IMHO you need someone there right off the bat who can figure out what regs to change, and what apparently innocuous changes to existing laws to slip into the next must-pass bill that would make a lot of difference down the road. IOW, you need a politician who’s also a transportation wonk, not a fucking dilettante, a dipshit who wants to be Somebody whether he’s ready for it or not. By the time Buttigieg knows his way around transportation policy as it affects global warming, opportunities to use that knowledge will have come and gone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032.md?page=34)