I would say that this is oppo ("Your candidate is a scary brain! I don't trust smart people! Al Gore was too smart so I voted for Dumbya&quot except the language is Norwegian, and Norwegians are among the chosen people according to Trump's No Nothing base.

It’s a great story that reveals something important about the person, something you had no idea existed before.

(Just wish he had a different name. I don’t want another major politician who sparks a bunch of anal nicknames and abbreviations by those who can’t behave.)

Off to google his name pronounciation.

I think he speaks arabic too...

This speaks in his favor. Curious, hungry for knowledge, willing to go to some trouble to increase his abilities.

Gotta like that.

then he'll be the best president in American history!

I see now why he's running. He wants a challenge, and he knows it's one of the most challenging jobs around, especially if you actually do it yourself instead of playing golf and letting others do it all. He could be awesome. I'm just not sure America deserves someone so gifted.

Don't worry--I'm smiling.

He's definitely on my radar. Very, very smart guy.

But I just can't get past the, "Ya, but can he win" factor. But with that being said, I am getting closer and closer every day. Perhaps VP?? The potential VP debate vs. Pence would be pay per view popcorn worthy for sure!!

Of course I'd like to see POTUS Pete, but at 37 and as a newcomer to federal politics, I guess I'm tempering my expectations a little. I have no doubt he'll impress in whatever role he serves in. Then a legitimate run at the presidency could follow in 2024. I'd be okay with that.

about electibility. Can't wait!

a year or two back to better understand this Norwegian TV show that was popular among teens. Does she have a future in politics?

(It started in Norway, but spinoff shows have spread to France, Germany and even Austin, Texas.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skam_(TV_series)

A lot of it’s isnt streamable outside of Norway, you have to make a free user account, but there are a few good shows that are available. They have subtitles in Norwegian as well, great for learning (sometimes it doesn’t match but it’s close enough). NRK is a bit like PBS with more edge. The are really good.

https://tv.nrk.no

Also some great online radio streams here: http://www.listenlive.eu/norway.html

No wonder I'm all in for him.

Impressive.

for English-speakers to learn; the grammar and word order are closer to English than to other Germanic languages. I've been working on Norwegian for a couple of years and at least reading it has come pretty easily. Nevertheless, for Buttigieg to have learned it just in order to read some books he liked is spectacularly impressive.

The Norwegians with whom I worked kept telling me that learning Norwegian was a waste of my time.

I've worked in companies dominated by French, by Chinese (twice), by Armenians (when I was a kid), and by Indians (Telugu speaking mostly) and Norwegians. The nice thing is that almost every language sprinkles - at least in the US and sometimes in the home countries - enough English words that you can get a sense of what is going on, particularly in context.

Back when I was working with Norwegians, I could not find Norwegian books, and this was before the ready access of the internet.

I only worked for that company for about a year and a half before realizing it was time to move on. I think it was the shortest tenured job in my entire life.

It was a beautiful country, but I didn't particularly enjoy the corporate culture which says nothing about the Norwegian culture, but it is a culture in which people do eat lutefisk.

Anglo-Saxon german and second by the Dane invasion ie Vikings which included Scandinavia in general. A huge portion of the words we speak in english are of direct scandinavian origin. For instance, if the word has an "sk" sound in it, it's probably Norse.

Just sayin' it's fun.

was get rid of the complex inflected grammar of German. It's believed that the only way the Anglo-Saxons and the Viking settlers of the Danelaw, speaking Old Norse, could understand each others' related but not mutually-intelligible languages was by using simplified figures of speech in both languages. As a result, most English verbs are conjugated a lot like most verbs in Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages (with the exception of Icelandic, which due to its speakers' relative isolation retained the complexities of Old Norse) and not like German. For example (English/Norwegian/German):

I see = jeg ser = ich sehe
you see = du ser = du siest
he sees = han ser = er sieht
we see = vi ser = wir sehen
you (plural) see = dere ser = euch sehen
they see = de ser = sie sehen

I tend to think most English speakers don't realize the scandinavian influence on their language. Then came 1066!

He is truly gifted as a politician and is a great candidate ... it all hinges on getting into the debates and making enough noise to rise in the top tier before he end of the summer.

But could he run for state wide office in Indiana first or at least Congress?

Politically, Indiana is the Mississippi of the North.

I like that he's a Mayor with all the administrative/executive work that requires.

Governor's the next 'relevant' job, imo, but not likely in Indiana these days. There WAS Evan Bayh.

but only received 37.5% of the vote in the general election. The pathways for advancement in Indiana don't really exist for Pete.

you learn a whole 'nother language just to read him/her, must be good.

Buttigieg is impressive on several dimensions. He and Preet Bharara (on Bharara's podcast Stay Tuned with Preet) recently discussed philosopher John Rawls's notions of justice and egalitarianism in relation to governing. It was not the usual question-and-answer segment found on cable TV. That kind of discussion is likely to be quickly dismissed by many voters as too high-brow, which might also explain why Pete isn't quick to trumpet his undergrad education at Harvard nor his Oxford scholarship.

another language in order to read more of their work.

I'd bet he'll respond.

But I'm sure there's a bright future ahead of him in the Democratic Party. VPOTUS?

Wish he could get a little of that South Bend thing going for him. Like Obama did with Chicago.

The more I hear of Mayor Buttigieg, the more I like him.

Great book.

Glad he has enough donations to be included. He is really impressive.

and since all three attended Wharton he asked them to multiply something like 17 × 6 and none got the correct answer.

He's like the people I fall in love with in the primaries, progressive, good, smart, caring, ideas focused, science and reality supporting, kind, focused people. I doubt he will catch fire with all the more established candidates out there, and I may not get even a chance to vote for him since he could have dropped out before the primaries come to us. If he;s still in and Biden gets in that's a dilemma for me as well. I also really like Liz Warren, I love her innovative workable and good for the working class financial policies. I'm pretty sure she will still be in during the FL primaries so I'd definitely get to vote for her.

If Joe's not in, I am really deep in Undecided Land. Of course, I can't wait for the debates and the primaries to actually begin and learn more in detail about our candidates. Beating drumpf is definitely #1 on my wish list and I'd vote for the neighbors' ugly dog if I thought he had a chance of winning and was the Dem nominee. Of course we have no real dogs as candidates either as long as Schulz stays out.

I'd like to see in office than a president with a brain; I think it should be a prerequisite. Although the real test is platform, ethics, empathy and wisdom. It sounds like I want the Dalai Lama.