Opinion by: Saagar Enjeti
A very interesting thing happened yesterday. It appeared that neoliberal shapeshifter Pete Buttigieg reconciled himself with the failed legacy of Barack Obama and offered a new path.
Buttigieg appeared to have been quoted by an LA Times reporter discussing how he would respond to “the failures of the Obama era help explain how we got Trump.” The quote was widely circulated on Twitter, Julian Castro took the opportunity to hit Pete Buttigieg on it, all before Monday morning when it was corrected.
The story of that correction and the response perfectly describes Buttigieg and his candidacy. Buttigieg’s actual quote was, “the failures of the old normal help explain how we got Trump.” That of course is a completely meaningless anodyne phrase.
Even better, Buttigieg himself quote tweeted the reporter who issued the correction saying, “I appreciate this reporter’s swift and honest correction of a misquote on my views of the Obama presidency. From health care to DADT repeal to the rescue of the auto industry, my appreciation of Barack Obama comes from a very personal place.”
Oh Pete, you were so close to being right in the misquote that I almost had hope for you. Buttigieg’s actual quote about the old normal followed by bending over backwards to talk about how much he loves Obama tells you everything you need to know about Pete Buttigeg. The truth is that Buttigieg’s old normal pretty much looks like what a new normal under him would be. Lots of woke progressive executive orders while kowtowing to Wall Street and the neoliberal class in every other area of his presidency.
To give you an idea of who is supporting Pete Buttigieg listen to this perfect quote from Politico.
Glenn Rockman, a 38 year old biotech investor from adjuvant capital in Manhattan says, “I was shocked by the practical and substantive kind of centrist nature of his commentary and how inspirational I thought he could be. And basically, I hate how far left the primary has gone.”
You can’t make that up folks. A biotech investor at a Manhattan private equity firm with a recurring Buttigieg donation. It’s almost too perfect. Politico gives up Buttigieg’s entire game later on saying “interviews with nearly a dozen Buttigieg backers in the investment community suggest the South Bend Mayor’s mix of progressive stands on social issues and more moderate approaches to taxation, health care and the financial industry more broadly have kicked off a mini-movement among younger investor-types?”
So to get this straight. People in the investment community are excited about Pete Buttigieg because they only have faith that he’ll enact a bunch of socially liberal policies if he somehow manages to become President of the United States. He has the most billionaire donors of any other candidate in this race. And as I’ve said before, how you’re funding your campaign and who is most excited about your candidacy tells us much tells us everything you need to know about you.
What bothers me most about Buttigieg is his unabashed waffling, careerism, and his emptiness. It remains perfectly encapsulated in one of his first ads that we aired on this show which of course prompted raucous laughter from me and the panel. Let’s relive that for old times sake.
Buttigieg began his campaign as a Medicare-for-all progressive mayor from the interior of the country. Now he’s a centrist style Democrat who previous reports indicate dropped lines from his stump speech about abolishing the electoral college and packing the Supreme Court because his Wall Street donors told him that those things were just a tad too radical. His entire tactic in the Democratic race appears to be attacking people for being too far left and then saying very stupid meaningless things in a way that sounds nice to some boomers.
Buttigieg is the type of guy who’s been salivating to be president of the United States since he was like 12, and it shows just a bit too much in his career choices. He wants to change the system, but he loves Obama, who is the face of the old system. In short, he doesn’t really want to change anything at all.
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