# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/81 "2019-03-17T23:04:01Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > He has not made a splash. He’s been picked up by the press. That’s a splash for me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/82 "2019-03-17T23:20:39Z")
> [@zuer-coli](#): > > Back to the experience issue, in more than one of Mayor Pete’s interviews, he has noted that he’s had more government experience then Mr. Trump and Mr.Pence combined. How? Near as I can tell, Pence became VP in January of ‘17 after he was a Governor from January of ‘13 to January of ‘17, after he was a Congressman from January of ‘01 to January of ‘13. Near as I can tell, Buttigieg was a teen who was still in college in January of ‘01; isn’t Pence ahead even _without_ Trump’s years as president? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/83 "2019-03-17T23:38:00Z")
He [taught himself Norwegian](https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/pete-buttigiegs-quiet-rebellion) because the other books by a Norwegian author he liked hadn’t been translated. If that alone doesn’t make him the opposite of Donald Trump, who never bothered to read the books that he supposedly wrote in the language that he supposedly speaks, then I don’t know what could. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/84 "2019-03-17T23:45:21Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > He’s been picked up by the press. That’s a splash for me. That’s just silly. Remember that [Morning Consult poll](https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Political-Intelligence-3.12.19.pdf) from last week that I linked to earlier? They asked a favorable/unfavorable question of Democratic primary voters about 16 Dem candidates. Guess who’s doing the worst in the, “Never heard of,” department. He may have made a splash for you, but every other candidate has made a bigger splash. ```auto Candidate Never heard of Pete Buttigieg 62% John Hickenlooper 59% Jay Inslee 59% Steve Bullock 56% Tulsi Gabbard 52% John Delaney 47% Terry McAuliffe 46% Amy Klobuchar 38% Julian Castro 36% Kirsten Gillibrand 31% Beto O'Rourke 30% Cory Booker 25% Kamala Harris 21% Elizabeth Warren 11% Joe Biden 3% Bernie Sanders 2% ``` ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/85 "2019-03-17T23:54:58Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > How? > > Near as I can tell, Pence became VP in January of ‘17 after he was a Governor from January of ‘13 to January of ‘17, after he was a Congressman from January of ‘01 to January of ‘13. Near as I can tell, Buttigieg was a teen who was still in college in January of ‘01; isn’t Pence ahead even _without_ Trump’s years as president? The accurate quote is more executive experience. Pete is only counting Pence’s time as Governor. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/86 "2019-03-18T00:16:58Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > He may have made a splash for you, And the BBC. And the Guardian. Anyway, the profound ignorance of the American people is well-attested. After all, they elected Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/87 "2019-03-18T02:11:38Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It’s not necessarily about being mayor, it’s about being elected mayor as an openly gay man in the city with a conservative Roman Catholic university that dominates the city. Meh. South Bend is a historically blue collar, union-first type rust belt city that has a strong Democratic history. And as a Catholic school, Notre Dame has also been historically progressive. It’s conservative only as it relates to your average public university - it’s no Ann Arbor or Bloomington. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/88 "2019-03-18T04:43:26Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I think it would be great to have an openly gay candidate make a serious run, maybe get tapped for VP. But it should be someone like Tammy Baldwin who has reached a higher office. If we were to even consider a mayor as a presidential contender, it ought to be one who presides over one of the largest cities in the country. And you have managed to miss the point of my post. Yeah, he’s gay. Got it. Young. Rhodes scholar. Decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Charismatic and able to hold people’s attention. Born and raised in the Midwest. Gets high marks from business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce. Very popular with constituents in a deeply GOP state. Who else running as a Democrat does this apply to? Those are the things that make him appealing to me. And yeah, being a middle aged gay man the fact he is gay as well is something I appreciate. But it isn’t the main thing I like about him. Take a few minutes and watch an interview with him and let us know what you think. I doubt he stands a chance of getting the nomination or being elected President in 2020. However, if he manages to get into the debates I expect to see his popularity grow and who knows where that could go. He simply has a quality that I feel people will be drawn toward. At a minimum I expect him to be a serious voice of the party in the future. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/89 "2019-03-18T19:30:20Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > And the BBC. And the Guardian. > > Anyway, the profound ignorance of the American people is well-attested. After all, they elected Trump. Pot, meet kettle. _cough_Brexit_cough_ As has been already noted, Buttigieg comes across very well – well-spoken, smart, charismatic, but also self-effacing. And, in reading about him, I see that, while he hasn’t served in elected office other than the mayorship, he served in Naval Intelligence, as well as some work for William Cohen’s consulting firm, and working on John Kerry’s presidential campaign as a policy specialist. So, i don’t necessarily think that his experience level is too thin, even if he’s never been in Congress. He’s made appearances on a lot of talk shows and news shows here in the U.S. in recent weeks, but, as noted, his big challenge is that he’s starting with extremely low name recognition (much less voters knowing much about him). It’s still early in the campaign, but with so many better-known candidates already in the race, including, now, Beto O’Rourke, who probably is going to wind up occupying a similar space on voters’ perceptual maps (i.e., “smart charismatic energetic white moderate”), he faces a tremendous uphill battle just to make his presence known. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/90 "2019-03-18T22:06:16Z")
Buttigieg only has more executive experience than Pence if you’re just counting total number of years of any sort of executive experience. But experience as a mayor of a middling-sized town is not the same thing as experience as a governor. A more reasonable measure might be number of year-constituents, multiplying the time by the population. The mayor of a big city like New York or Chicago could compete here (either’s population is greater than Arkansas’, for instance, but governor of Arkansas was a sufficient qualification for the Presidency), but South Bend? And even that still isn’t a completely fair comparison, because a mayor of even the biggest cities is still subordinate in some degree to that state’s governor, but a governor isn’t subordinate to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/91 "2019-03-18T22:41:14Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Pot, meet kettle. _cough_Brexit_cough_ Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/92 "2019-03-18T23:08:33Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Take a few minutes and watch an interview with him and let us know what you think. I watched his “Meet Pete” video, and an interview with Colbert. He’s very smart and articulate, but he also looks very young, even for 37 (which is young in presidential politics even if you don’t look young for your age), and has a weak chin. Seems like the kind of guy who ought to aim for a career as an appointed official in Democratic administrations, something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/93 "2019-03-19T04:23:57Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I watched his “Meet Pete” video, and an interview with Colbert. > > He’s very smart and articulate, but he also looks very young, even for 37 (which is young in presidential politics even if you don’t look young for your age), and has a weak chin. Seems like the kind of guy who ought to aim for a career as an appointed official in Democratic administrations, something like that. Stated like a classic geniophobe. There are therapies available for that. 😃 And as to his youth, pretty sure concerns about that will change over the next few years. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/94 "2019-03-19T04:41:06Z")
A weak chin? A WEAK CHIN?! Oh my GOD, are you telling me… …that he has… …a… _ **WEAK CHIN?!?!?!?!** _ This is finally the break that the Chaffee campaign has been waiting for! ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/95 "2019-03-19T11:42:54Z")
I’d say a successful mayor is much better than any president we have had in a long time. As a mayor, your constituents can easily escape to surrounding counties without much change to their lives. You cannot print money or go into tremendous debt. As president, in most cases, the only way people can escape is through a drastic life change. There are little constraints beyond politics, and usually no real constraints on major issues. As a mayor you must satisfy the pols and the people or else your town or city will see ruin pretty quickly. Most towns and cities are also diverse economically and socially. As president you can travel the US talking to the same people and cobble together a plurality (Hi Trump). As mayor, you may be forced to deal with people who are, gasp, different. Your press as mayor will be less alternately fawning or hyperbolic. You actually need to have real dialogues. Governors are a little different and it depends on the state, but yes, they must be better than presidents as well. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/96 "2019-03-19T12:23:07Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > And the BBC. And the Guardian. > > Anyway, the profound ignorance of the American people is well-attested. After all, they elected Trump. That’s funny coming from someone that just made an ass out of themselves regarding Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/97 "2019-03-19T12:53:42Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > That’s funny coming from someone that just made an ass out of themselves regarding Chicago. Tell me, do you know about equivalent cities in other countries? Thought not. At least I am able to admit my ignorance and learn from education. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/98 "2019-03-19T19:11:05Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > He’s very smart and articulate, but he also looks very young, even for 37 (which is young in presidential politics even if you don’t look young for your age), and has a weak chin. He does have a little bit of the “high school science club” look to him. Then again, the current occupant of the office has a double chin, an elaborately bizarre combover hairstyle, and what appears to be a spray-on skin tone that doesn’t occur in nature. So, looks don’t necessarily preclude electoral success. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/99 "2019-03-19T21:51:15Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I’d be astonished if more than 5% of Americans know what or where Malta is. I think the most common association people have with the word Maltese is “a type of dog.” > > So no, knowing the origin of the name is not going to help anyone. > > This guy’s path to political success should be obvious - make his first name his brand. I’m not really aware of anyone noteworthy in American politics at the present time named Pete. That means essentially that “the username is available”, and he should just throw that name out there in the same way that “Bernie” did and if he does it properly, there will be no confusion about which Pete it is. If he has advisers working for his campaign who know what they’re doing, someone will have already told him this. I was going to say he came from a prominent Falconer family but not because I don’t know what or where Malta is but because I have a juvenile sense of humor. I was also thinking that if you said his name 3 times it would summon him but again, same reason. In seriousness I do want to learn more about him as everything I’ve heard about him seems positive. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032/100 "2019-03-20T00:42:48Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > He does have a little bit of the “high school science club” look to him. Then again, the current occupant of the office has a double chin, an elaborately bizarre combover hairstyle, and what appears to be a spray-on skin tone that doesn’t occur in nature. > > So, looks don’t necessarily preclude electoral success. 🙂 Yeah, Trump is pretty ugly at this point. But he was once a pretty handsome guy, and I think that was still fairly true when his show “The Apprentice” started. People tend to sort of give people (or at least men) credit for that, I think. I’d add that “Trump won, so let’s emulate his success” arguments don’t fly with me. For one, he’s not a Democrat, and we can’t just use the same playbook. For two, he lost the popular vote by three million and won the EC thanks to a GOP skew and some very narrow wins in just the right states. For three, he’s the most consistently unpopular president since such things began to be polled nearly a century ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-pete-buttigieg/831032.md?page=6)