ON BUTTIGIEG, BIBLES, AND THE M4 CARBiNE

What buoys boy-wonder Buttigieg’s poll numbers?

Mayor Pete has a score of Democrat presidential candidates both envious and angry with his recent polling success.  Pete Buttigieg is the kid mayor from tiny South Bend, Indiana,  a college town rife with unsolved racial and police problems.  Mayor Pete has who has been checking off all the required boxes in his zeal to leap-frog from small town mayor to US President left the problems of South Bend  stewing, as he simply took off  to campaign for President across the nation.  The young mayor has had considerable recent success.  The potential Democrat primary voters seem enthralled. The kid from South Bend is loquacious, quick on his feet, fast with a verbal riposte and  other Harvard and Oxford  educated.  He and his team work hard to promote the image of a no frills regular guy from the mid-west who claims  to hold values compatible with the average Democrat voter.  But does he? 

The diminutive Buttigieg, who always appears in a stark starched white shirt at his rallies, is a mere 37 years old, and is the least experienced of the score of candidates he now seems to lead in the polls. His only employment experience after Harvard was with the infamous scandal wracked management consulting and hedge fund firm McKinsey Consulting.  Buttigieg worked there for three years but his client lists are shrouded in secrecy,  as are his sources of present political funding. 

But it is Buttigied’s oft-touted claims about his military career which gives pause to observers, since the apparent  lack of candor he demonstrates in this aspect of his life suggests a tendency toward purposeful misrepresentation elsewhere.  

In reference to his military service, his campaign continues to advertise Mayor Pete as a Naval Reserve officer who “served in Afghanistan”.  That is factual.  But they do not leave it there. At his campaign stops they often display a photo of the candidate, dressed in camouflage and flack jacket, carrying an M4 carbine (the combat weapon issued to US Marines).  The candidate often compounds this by repeating the claim that he “was packing his bags for deployment in Afghanistan while President Trump was preparing to host a TV program”. 

We know that the candidate was a war protester in his college years, who when he focused on a career in politics decided that a short and quick “military career” would be an big asset to his political aspirations. To this end, Buttigieg by-passed a traditional four-year military degree or ROTC for a faster route to his goal.   With his degree from Harvard in hand, he entered the Naval Reserve DOC (direct officer commissioning program) as an officer ensign, by simply signing his name.  No boot camp. strenuous marching or physical effort involved. 

A few months later Buttigieg made good use of his Navy commission  to bolster his slim credentials for his mayoral campaign in South Bend.  He won by a paper thin margin.   Not long after taking office, he volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan.  The young mayor took a year long leave of absence from the drudgery of small town politics and his office, leaving the problems in South Bend to fester unattended by the town’s chief elected official. 

 In Afghanistan, he was tasked with investigating illegal Afghan finances. His “weaponry “was an electronic file and a computer. No M4  carbine was issued to him.  He apparently sat in an air conditioned office inside of the Green Zone in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan for his seven month stint.  This bit of Buttigieg history is a typical form of military-political misrepresentation used by many aspiring politicians over the ages. But the kid from South Bend seems  to get away with it with little comment from the other candidates

Buttigieg also claims to be a committed Christian, who has recently been heard spouting Bible verses and snippets of scripture to his Afro-American audiences in South Carolina rallies.  But like the M4 rifle he never actually fired, the Holy Bible he references at his rallies is simple more political window dressing.  The political accoutrement of feigned Christian religiosity.  Buttigieg  freely and openly espouses a life-style which ignores core Christin tenets,  among them— the sanctity of unborn life.  Clutching the Bible and an M4 carbine as political props for political advancement  is the hall mark  of a hard core, slick politician (with a lower case “p”).  

So why does Buttigieg continue to poll well above the crowd of more experienced aspiring nominees?  Take for example hard working, and real-middle-road Democrat  and true midwesterner: Senator Amy Klobuchar who polls at only 6% and who actually has more than a decade of honest, productive and effective service for her constituents to her credit.    Mayor Pete, at 16%  beats out sincere and authentic Senator Cory Booker who has a stellar career as the hugely popular and effective mayor of  large urban city: Newark, NJ,   as well as a enviable career as a US Senator.  Buttigieg also presently polls above Warren and Sanders in Iowa.  Joe Biden the former Obama VP beats him nationally, but struggles to reach his poll numbers  in Iowa.

What motivates these Democrats ?

My guess is that a significant element (of Mayor Pete’s success) is the deep need of some Democrat and Iowan “wanna be progressives” to burnish  their left-liberal “cred” by open support of the most unlikely candidate. 

Another factor that must be taken into consideration is the powerful support Buttigieg receives both financial and otherwise from the affluent and activist LBGTQ + community.  Buttugieg’s candidacy is a rare  opportunity to advance acceptance of this communities’ lifestyle. These folks are understandably highly motivated to promote the candidacy of one of their own.  

So Mayor Peter Buttigieg comes across as a well-programmed, agenda-driven, fast talking, slick politician with deep-pocket, financial support from restricted urban centers of affluence.  Don’t expect him to hew to any specific doctrine or philosophy.  He’s no Bernie Sanders!  He will morph chameleon-like in support of whatever the polls indicate are popular.  We have watched him evolve in the short few months of the debates from progressive to centrist before our very eyes.   He’s not  the  mid-western average boy next door type he tries to portray.   I suspect  with such traits we should see a lot more of him in the Swamp.