Mayor Pete Buttigieg and the Power of the Word

This is Part 5 of a multi-part series examining how we use the Power of the Word in politics, particularly in the 2020 presidential race.  Rev. Sara S. Nichols is senior minister at the Center for Spiritual Living, Davis and the Spiritual Director of All is Well Institute which supports and teaches people how to heal themselves using spiritual tools.  Trained as an attorney, before coming to spiritual science, she was a legislative and communications advocate for Medicare for All and other consumer issues in Congress and the California legislature.

Part 1 -- What exactly is the Power of the Word and How does it Work in Politics?

Part 2 -- Donald Trump and the Power of the Word

Part 3 -- Bernie Sanders and the Power of the Word
Part 4 --Marianne Williamson and the Power of the Word

Part 5 --Pete Buttigieg and the Power of the Word

Part 6 --Comparison of Top 2020 Presidential Candidates

In this series, we confine ourselves primarily to the question of how effectively does the candidate work with the power of their word.  In other words, given how they marshall universal law to their favor through the power of the word, how much do they appear to be grounded in a vision of a world that works for everyone, how likely are they to win, and when they assume the White House, what are they likely to accomplish?

My assumption is that every Democratic challenger for president shares most of the same policy positions (affordable universal health care and education, pro civil rights, combat climate change, raise the minimum wage, pro gun control).  There are plenty of other writers out there that will spend their time evaluating the nuances of where Democratic candidates for president are on these issues. And most news forums will spend their time looking at the experience, the demographics and the charisma of the candidates, all of which play a role in whether they will win.

Let's rate Mayor Pete Buttigieg on the criteria that I'm looking at. Currently, Buttigieg is tied for 5th place on my rankings with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) on his ability to win the presidency in 2020 and govern from values of integrity and love. He is one of the most likely to win, however, basically tied with Sanders and Williamson in my evaluation in that category. But the least likely of the 3 of them to govern from integrity and love rather than what serves his political interest and resume. Note that Warren scores absolutely top points for grounding her vision in a World that Works for Everyone and in likelihood to govern from these values but falls well short on use of her word to win. Contrast that with the incumbent president who has top ranks on use of the power of the word to win and zeros for grounding his word in a World that Works for Everyone or shared values. In the total chart, Sanders is the top Democratic candidate who combines use of Power of the Word with likelihood to win and govern based on shared values.

Scale of 1 - 10 10 being the best

• Buttigieg effective Use of Power of his Word -- 9 (Simply by vaulting to the top of a crowded field Buttigieg strong at bringing forth what he wants using his word; He used it to become mayor, to become a Rhodes Scholar as well)
• Buttigieg potential use of his word to win the nomination and presidency -- 8 (I think his command of the word, and his thirst for winning and accolades could carry him to the nomination and to the presidency. He is better suited to beat the incumbent president on his own terms than many).
• Buttigieg likelihood of governing based on a World that Works for Everyone upon assuming presidency -- 5 (based on the Robinson article's close reading of his own Memoir and his record as mayor).
• Buttigieg grounding his Word in love, integrity, diversity and inclusion, accountability, caring--7 He does talk like his shared values include diversity and inclusion, accountability, love, compassion, caring and integrity.

How Buttigieg stacks up against other contenders:

For More on this see: Comparison of 2020 Presidential Candidates

Pete Buttigieg's candidacy reminds me so much of Bill Clinton's--which terrifies me. Every time I ever listen to Bill Clinton speak, I love him. Every time I watched him govern, I hated him. If I'm honest, I did not want to write this piece, because to evaluate Mayor Pete's use of the Power of the Word, I knew I would have to listen to him speak. And, seeing the growing support for this unlikely candidate, I feared I would be sucked in by his words and presence, just as I am by President Clinton's. I didn't want to forget Nathan Robinson's close reading of Pete Buttigieg's political memoir, Shortest Way Home. In it, Robinson really looks at what Pete Buttigieg is most proud of: walking by picketing low wage workers at Harvard on his way to a policy forum, destroying 1000 homes and replacing good higher paying jobs with robots or computers in South Bend, and choosing to work for a large corporate consulting firm in his first job post Rhodes Scholar are what "Mayor Pete" brags about in his book.

And, dag nabbit, I AM sucked in. I just spent a solid hour binge-watching Buttigieg on Youtube and, man, that guy can talk:

On racial inequality in his city of South Bend, Indiana:

"These racial inequities didn't just happen, they're not an accident. They are in many cases the consequences of policies. Which means we have to have not just non racist policies but anti racist policies. I may not be able to convince every voter to be for me but at the very least I need to make sure that every voter out there knows that I'm for them." on Trevor Noah's The Daily Show

On education:

"The biggest thing we need to do for education is have a Secretary of Education who is actually for public education" (also on The Daily Show)

In a townhall forum on MSNBC in Fresno recently, on full restoration of felons voting rights, he somehow manages to be against it at the same time as cogently reflecting the argument of why we might want to be for it without sounding like he's wishy-washy. I'm paraphrasing here because I caught it on XM cable radio. He said something like this:

I think its defensible to lose, at least temporarily, some rights of citizenship, when you're convicted of a serious crime. At the same time, I'm mindful that this only makes sense if we have a fair justice system where the only factor for likeliness of incarceration is whether you've committed the crime. And that's actually not what we have now. Men of color, particularly African American men, are far more likely to be incarcerated than any other demographic so what appears to be a neutral policy is actually not neutral at all. So I'm thinking about whether that affects my position.

What Buttigieg is doing here is simultaneously taking the position that middle white America wants to hear him take and then educating middle white America on why that might not be as reasonable a position as they say it is, while also showing progressive America including people of color that he understands the disparate effect and the indefensibility of this policy. Normally, a candidate can't have it both ways, but somehow Buttigieg does (not something, by the way, that Senator Kamala Harris is pulling off right now in her obvious attempts to duck tough issues), that is just insanely skillful and it seems to be out of his own head, not a playbook.

So what I don't want to talk about is that Mayor Pete is an extraordinarily good talker. And when a 37 year old gay small city Mayor from a deep red state somehow vaults themselves into contention with Vice President Joe Biden, and leaders of the progressive movement Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, you gotta take notice at the results of his talking.

In some respects the results speak for themselves. Just as it defies probability that an arrogant, pathologically lying, sexually assaulting, asset-inflating, pro wrestler personality with NO political experience could be president. It defies probability that someone with Pete Buttigieg's profile would distinguish themselves in this crowded field of candidates.

Pete Buttigieg, on the other hand, like other Rhodes Scholars before him, may be more interested in obtaining the ultimate resume capper than in actually helping the people he purports to champion--why else would he brag about the unfortunate "accomplishments" flagged by Nathan Robinson's "All about Pete" piece? Indeed, his "walk-up" song (flagged by The Washington Post in their wonderful Daily 202 column) is "High Hopes":

The lyrics seem to fit more Buttigieg's high hopes to be a "one in a million" than the hopes of a nation to be lifted out of poverty or restored to integrity.

In many respects, I currently view Senator Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg exactly antithetically within the Democratic field (caveat caveat caveat). Elizabeth Warren would be a dream president in terms of policies, commitment to real people and demonstrable commitment to a world that works for everyone. Yet, despite being a decent campaigner for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and being beloved by many, she seems to fall into the President's cleverly laid traps and fumble her way out of them. She can be so committed to good policy that she stays in details and doesn't routinely use the Power of the Word to bring into reality what she knows to be the truth in her head.

The short version is that at this point I think Pete Buttigieg might be able to use the power of his word to beat the incumbent president and then govern like Bill Clinton. While true progressive Elizabeth Warren has yet to demonstrate that she has the right chops to survive the Republican candidate's withering tweet storms. The only candidate for President I currently believe can employ the power of the word to beat the incumbent AND I know will work for a world that works for everyone is Bernie Sanders.

Here's Buttigieg answering some questions--mostly a puff piece but gives you a feel for him if you haven't already gotten it: