EJ Dionne on Buttigieg

[MBS]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pete-buttigieg-has-broken-through-the-noise-on-community-and-religion/2019/03/24/8fc72084-4ce0-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html?utm_term=.951836617d62

Pete Buttigieg has broken through the noise of a cacophonous Democratic presidential field by raising issues that usually fall by the wayside in an era when politics feels prepackaged and defined by short-term obsessions. He certainly got good news on Sunday with an Emerson poll in Iowa showing him surging from nowhere to third place and double digits. . .

Mayor Pete, as he’s known, frequently talks about matters that are not strictly political, do not necessarily lend themselves to solutions by government and have more to do with how we live our lives than where we stand on an ideological spectrum. It will be useful if his recent comments on two themes, religion and community, have a contagious effect.. . . “I do think it’s important for candidates to at least have the option to talk about our faith,” he said. He specifically targeted the idea that “the only way a religious person could enter politics is through the prism of the religious right.” An Episcopalian and a married gay man, Buttigieg pointed to the core Christian concept that “the first shall be last; the last shall be first.” He added: “What could be more different than what we’re being shown in Washington right now — often with some people who view themselves as religious on the right, cheering it on? .?.?. Here we have this totally warped idea of what Christianity should be like when it comes into the public sphere, and it’s mostly about exclusion. Which is the last thing that I imbibe when I take in scripture in church.”

[Dionne also mentioned Corey Booker's and Elizabeth Warren's discussions about their own religious faith]
. . .

Buttigieg also broke ground in placing the rise of white ethno-nationalism in the context of “a kind of disorientation and loss of community and identity.” “The sense of belonging can be very powerful,” he told The Post’s Greg Sargent last week, “and we’re very fragile without it.” Conservatives have tended to talk about community breakdown more than liberals have — see, for example, Timothy P. Carney’s new book, “Alienated America.” Carney doesn’t discount economics, but he sees the collapse of social capital as leaving “a scar far deeper than an unemployment rate.” In his interview with Sargent, Buttigieg turned the argument in a progressive direction by stressing work itself. For many Americans, the “very basic human desire for belonging .?.?. historically has often been supplied by the workplace .?.?. based on the presumption of a lifelong relationship with a single employer.” Economics can matter in surprising ways.
. . .
At its best, political argument is about learning. Our exchanges give us a chance to see things through someone else’s eyes. That sounds positively utopian these days. What’s important about Buttigieg’s remarks on religion and community is that he broached issues that seem to have more traction on the right than the left. He takes conservatives seriously enough to challenge them on concerns that genuinely engage them. If some liberals, as conservatives complain, tend to marginalize religion’s public role, might one reason be the bizarre and reprehensible invocation of faith by Christian nationalists to justify bigotry? Conservatives are right to worry about the decay of community. But the left is correct to insist that this problem is aggravated by radical changes in our economy that have shattered communities and individual lives.

[marylandblue]

1. That's one of the reasons I like Buttigieg

First, he is absolutely correct about the loss of community leading to white nationalism. Second, he can make community building a campaign theme, and such a theme would feed a narrative that a small rust belt city mayor understands this far better than any other candidate. Which would.brilliantly turn a weakness into a strength.

[mobeau69]

2. The Christo-fascists hate to hear this.

An Episcopalian and a married gay man, Buttigieg pointed to the core Christian concept that “the first shall be last; the last shall be first.” He added: “What could be more different than what we’re being shown in Washington right now — often with some people who view themselves as religious on the right, cheering it on?

[marylandblue]

4. The leadership won't like it, but some in the pews really believe that one.

so they could be receptive to the religious left. Many people on DU think they are unreachable, but people do change sometimes and just a small percentage changing would make a big difference.

[Irishxs]

3. Tired of hearing about mayor pete.

There, I’ve said it. People talk about him like he’s the end all, be all. I don’t see it. He’s just one of twenty.

[marylandblue]

5. Just wait a little longer, Biden will enter the race soon.

Then you won't hear about Pete for a while.

[mobeau69]

6. Welcome to DU, Irishxs!

Link to tweet

[monmouth4]

7. Thanks so much for posting that, I had not seen it before. Love Mayor Pete! n/t

[Bettie]

11. Well, everyone talks about their choice that way

I was skeptical of him at first.

Then, I learned more, listened to him speak and he's my first choice at this point.

I only have three who are definite "no's" at this point.

[Buzz Lightyear]

8. The media love him

That's an advantage for him.

[marylandblue]

9. Yes they do, and I think people misunderstand why.

The media love anyone who tells an interesting narrative. They also love personal connections to the candidate. They love Trump despite his many flaws because he is never boring. Behind the scenes, he leaks his own scoops and flatters thosw who give him good coverage. On a more positive note, They loved Reagan and Obama because they told good stories and cultivated personal relationships with the media.

Among the current candidates, Buttigieg and O'Rourke are best at this, but Buttigieg has more substance, so I think he will do better in the long run.

[oasis]

10. Good article. K and R