Quote of the Day

[Pete] Buttigieg’s posture toward power is that of a supplicant, not a skeptic. It shows in his mayoral record, in its areas of inertia. Based on what residents themselves have told news outlets, it doesn’t seem that Buttigieg has changed anything fundamental about the way South Bend actually works – about who holds power there and who does not. After a white police officer shot and killed Eric Logan, a black man, Buttigieg went home to face residents furious over years of police violence and over his earlier decision to demote the city’s first black police chief. Other residents say that while his development push accomplished some good, its benefits do not always trickle down to the city’s most vulnerable communities. Buttigieg may have torn down ramshackle old houses, but residents reportedly fear asbestos and lead poisoning from the demolitions, and many lots now stand empty.

“Ain’t shit changed,” one resident told CNBC in April. That may be what Mark Zuckerberg wants to hear, but it’s at odds with the story Buttigieg tells about himself. There’s a chasm between his brand and his record, and another between his brand and his platform, which for the most part rehashes familiar centrist policy. On health care, Buttigieg lauds choice as though choice by itself were a social good. Instead of Medicare for All, voters will get Medicare for All Who Want It, which leaves private insurance intact. In this way it resembles other policies put forward by other moderates. Rather than cancel student-loan debt for everyone, as Sanders has suggested, or for most people, as Warren has proposed, Buttigieg would limit relief. Graduates of programs that failed the federal government’s gainful-employment rule would qualify, as would participants in his mooted expansion of national-service programs. But that’s it. Buttigieg is relatively consistent. He hews closely to the technocratic wonkery he knows best and keeps raking in cash from the insurance, hospital, and pharmaceutical industries.

In Buttigieg, voters get a candidate who can define neoliberalism in a sentence, who will even say that he thinks it’s a negative force in the world. But he has never explained what alternative he offers. Generational change, in the mayor’s case, doesn’t mean much. Voters will just get a younger version of a Democratic Party they already know.

– Sarah Jones
Excerpted from “Pete for Corporate America”
New York Magazine
October 29, 2019

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Pete Buttigieg, White Privilege, and Identity Politics
• Beto, Biden and Buttigieg: “Empty Suits and Poll-Tested Brands”
• Pete Buttigieg: Quote of the Day – April 17, 2019
• Pete Buttigieg: Quote of the Day – June 27, 2019

Related Off-site Links and Updates:
All About Pete – Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, March 29, 2019).
Queer Erasure – Medium (May 5, 2019).
Pete Buttigieg Calls for Carbon Capture and Tax – Climate Proposals Backed By the Fossil Fuel Industry – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, May 19, 2019).
McKinsey and Company Is an Elitist Cult. Why Is Buttigieg Defending It? – Nathan Robinson (In These Times, July 31, 2019).
Buttigieg Distances Himself From His McKinsey Consulting Days – Daniel Strauss (Politico, October 30, 2019).
Why Buttigieg’s Shadowy Consultant Past at McKinsey Matters – Brendan O'Connor (VICE, November 20, 2019).
Sorry Mayor Pete, Means-Testing Is Not Progressive – Ben Burgis (Jacobin, December 1, 2019).
Immigrant Rights Groups Demand Buttigieg Return Donations From Firm Linked to ICE – Nick Visser (The Huffington Post, December 5, 2019).
Pete Buttigieg Was Asked If Taking Big Money Out of Politics Includes Not Taking Money From Billionaires, He Responds: “No” – Conrad Duncan (Independent, December 9, 2019).
Media Turns on Buttigieg. Will This End Him? – Krystal Ball (The Hill, December 9, 2019).
Buttigieg Releases List of Clients He Worked With at McKinsey – Max Greenwood (The Hill, December 10, 2019).
Centrists Don’t Want “Party Unity” – They Want to Defend the Wealthy – Christopher D. Cook (In These Times, December 10, 2019).
You Wanted Same-Sex Marriage? Now You Have Pete Buttigieg – Shannon Keating (BuzzFeed, December 11, 2019).
Questioned About Role in Blue Cross Layoffs, Buttigieg Deflects With “Incredibly Dishonest” Attack on Medicare for All – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, December 11, 2019).
Mayor Pete Buttigieg Is Even Worse Than He Seems – Liza Featherstone (Jacobin, December 11, 2019).
Will the Democratic Presidential Nomination Be Bought by the Oligarchs? – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, December 11, 2019).
#RefundPete Trends as Early Backers Request Donations Back After Learning Buttigieg Not So Progressive After All – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, December 12, 2019).
The Insider: How National Security Mandarins Groomed Pete Buttigieg and Managed His Future – Max Blumenthal (The Gray Zone, December 17, 2019).
In “Mind-Blowing Omission,” Buttigieg Campaign Failed to Disclose Wall Street Power Brokers in Release of Major Fundraisers – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, December 18, 2019).
Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg Are Not to Be Trusted – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, January 2, 2020).
Pete Buttigeig Is Not the Paragon of Progressive Christianity You Want Him to Be – Joshua Davis (The Bias: The Voice of the Christian Left, January 2, 2020).
Biden and Buttigieg Exemplify How Corporatism and “the Madness of Militarism” Go Together – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, January 7, 2020).
Pete Buttigieg Proved Last Night That He's Not the President America Wants or Needs – Carli Pierson (Independent, January 15, 2020).
Pete Buttigieg Skipped South Bend Meetings on Police Oversight to Attend Campaign Fundraisers Across the Country – Akela Lacy (The Intercept, January 23, 2020).
The Creation Myth of the Buttigieg Campaign – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, February 3, 2020).
Buttigieg Confirms Status as “Austerity Candidate” With Call for Democrats to Prioritize Reducing Deficit – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, February 9, 2020).
Mayor Pete’s Health Care Plan Is a Joke – Matt Bruenig (Jacobin, February 10, 2020).
Pete Buttigieg Is the Embodiment of White Privilege – and Black Voters Know It – Benjamin Dixon (The Guardian, February 11, 2020).
Union President Accuses Pete Buttigieg of “Perpetuating This Gross Fallacy” About Union Health Care: “This Is Offensive” – Jason Lemon (Newsweek, February 12, 2020).
South Bend Politician: I Worked with Pete Buttigieg. He Did Not Respect Black Residents’ Struggles – Democracy Now! (February 12, 2020).
Buttigieg Is a Wall Street Democrat Beholden to Corporate Interests – Kenneth Peres (Common Dreams, February 17, 2020).
As a Corporate Tool, Buttigieg Is Now a Hammer to Bash Bernie Sanders – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, February 24, 2020).
“Loyal Soldier”? Ahead of Super Tuesday, Pete Buttigieg to End Presidential Bid – Jon Queally (Common Dreams, March 1, 2020).
Buttigieg Drops Out of Presidential Race – Elena Schneider (Politico, March 1, 2020).
Pete Buttigieg Ends Historic Presidential Bid – Barbara Sprunt, Benjamin Swasey and Sam Gringlas (NPR News, March 1, 2020).
“Political Consolation Prize”? President-Elect Biden Picks Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary Despite His Lack of Relevant Experience – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, December 15, 2020).

Image: Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)