Though He may have money left after Super Tuesday. Which state(s) will he win?

Our problems require the most intelligent person who possesses an off the charts IQ and who also happens to have hands on combat experience fighting our enemy on the battlefield! His support will increase as he presents himself as the new face of diversity and tolerance in America!

Pete is also different in that he is the only veteran running. Combat veteran!!! He knows how to fight and win... The other candidates never joined the military. So this difference is truly unique...

career and background. Seven years of service, four tours in Iraq, two Bronze Stars with valor, and
yet extremely reticent about his awards for bravery in battle.

The Globe reports him as saying “The greatest honor of my life was to lead these men in my
platoon, even though it was a war that I and they disagreed with.”

a different message, though he, like every candidate has his own distinct style. He is a gay male in a same-sex marriage, true, and no other candidate so identifies.

He is actually one of two veterans in the race. I tend to respect those who have served and think we should listen to them about that experience.

One message I get from Buttigieg here— other candidates and their supporters have also delivered it—is that front-runner Biden is “safe,” “recycled,” and uninspiring, so therefore can not win a general election.

Even that claim is not one only Buttigieg has made. In fact, other than ageist criticisms, opposition to Biden’s candidacy boils down to his representing stale politics while not-Biden contenders, including other “old” ones, are “refreshingly different.”

Not like the others? Sure. Each candidate is an individual voice. That’s a given. How and why Buttigieg can beat Trump, he has not yet indicated but vaguely.

not even The Con who represents The Southern Strategy on steroids.

Although he is now drawing contrasts between himself and Biden, generational change / fundamental change has been Pete's message from the outset

I think this is really important to understand, because we need to make sure we ... as a party that we don't come to be viewed as the defenders of a system that is letting people down. And we wouldn't be here if the economic and political system hadn't failed people.

(snip) The system needs to be changed profoundly. I guess that's my point. We can't just nibble around the edges and expect people to be happy with us. Now, I've got a slightly different account than my competitors do about how best to do it, but the fundamental lesson is that our economic and political system has been letting people down I would say for my entire lifetime.

"Normalcy" got us where we are today."

To which a DU'er replied We don't want to turn back the clocks to normalcy - we want a president who is normal

outline how a Buttigieg presidency will profoundly “change the system.” I honestly thought he’d offer more than transformational politics 101 rhetoric.

Well, maybe next debate he will enlighten with more specifics as to how he plans to reshape “our economic and political system.”

Anyway, I thought Sanders was going to do that. And though I criticize Warren’s “a plan in every
pot,” she has them, down to a level of specificity most candidates never get to.

All respect for his military service, fine intelligence, cool temperament, and grit in tackling tough
problems at home.

I want a more seasoned president. His “entire life-time” has been very short. He has plenty of time
to learn how to move abstractions into concrete and workable plans.

were he to get the support he now lacks so sorely to have a shot at the GE, and by some historic
miracle, win, he will never get this sweeping plan enacted. Just a few of these policies could take up a whole presidency.

All together they seem to ignore the role of Congress, the fact that a president does not solely determine political will, and that America is multi-cultural, multi- not mono-racial. I know he threw in the need to counter Islamaphobia, all discrimination, in fact, and that he contends the plan will lift up every racial and ethnic group, even poor whites, but a cursory read-through of plan titles, much less content says it is aimed at and tailored to one racial group.

Naturally, the Douglas Plan appears a way to appeal to the black electorate he is so alienated from. Maybe he should have introduced it when he launched his campaign, not as a new deal after he found himself struggling to gain a more positive image even among the South Bend black community.

Finally, as Nancy Pelosi would say, “How does he think he’s going to pay for all this?” PHD thesis stuff, not feasible policy.

Last edited Mon Aug 12, 2019, 08:06 AM - Edit history (1)

He said early on that he wanted to first introduce his values to the American people, then roll out his policies.

His economic plan is here: https://peteforamerica.com/empowering-workers

His rural healthcare plan is here: https://peteforamerica.com/rural-health

I do think he may have miscalculated with his timing, because now that he has dropped a bit in the polls, he's finding it harder to get good media coverage on his policy rollouts.

not really broken down. It is beautifully written up but so extensive that I think media didn’t digest it, sure did not make it digestible. Would be hard for him to explain in a debate or interview. Too many plans, too much policy ends up ignored. Brilliant people create brilliant ideas us average folk
struggle to process.

As you say, his he fully developed and detailed, but sometimes the more flesh, the harder to grapple with. I’d have him combine all the policies under one plan title and edit
it down to a few pages with a reference to the full paper.

No matter. He has time to get things manageable. People are still interested in him. Yet, voters, I believe gravitate to personality, vision, simpler positions on issues, more than to highly wonky stuff. He should let us get a sense of Pete. Then his values. Then some policy.

Whatever happens, he is destined for big things I think.

Some Pride parade photos from Saturday