It is refreshing to finally see a more balanced report on Mr. Buttigieg's record and relation with the black community in South Bend. It is worth noting that Mr. Buttigieg has been consistently talking about structural racism and his Douglass plan during on the campaign trail, including in IA and NH, where the demographic is predominantly white, because, as he explained, structural racism is not a black problem, it is an American problem. In a non-campaign year, Mr. Buttigieg would have been embraced as an ally of minority communities. In a click-bait digital world quick to scapegoating, where netizens have short attention span suitable only for the simplest analysis, Mr. Buttigieg's comments are taken out of context, and unfortunate incidents in South Bend, which regrettably are prevalent in the US, are exploited for campaign advantages. I feel that the current culture climate has a chilling effect. I, for one, as a non-black minority progressive, now find myself very hesitant to engage in discussion on racial issues with "the progressive."
14
The Democrats need to stop infighting and get organized. Trump has proved that a man in his 70s is too old for the rigors of the presidency. He is exhausted by his daily routine, spends hours watching Faux News and must go to one of his golf clubs frequently despite criticism of Pres. Obama for golfing, apparently because of the stress of his job.
The best solution is a Warren/Buttigieg ticket. He does need some more experience - an inexperienced person was elected in 2016 and he's been a disaster. Mayor Pete is an intelligent, classy man with real emotional depth, not a buffoon like Trump.
2
Just to be clear, the activist didn’t “grab” the mike from anyone. Despite what the media printed about it. Note the NYT just implies it. He picked it off the podium. He actually lives in the area and is highly active in the community. He’s Hispanic if it matters.
Here is a rebuttal/letter written by BLM and sent to the Buttigieg campaign.
https://i.redd.it/11fui9vkfw241.jpg
Here is the full length video of the minor disturbance.. https://www.facebook.com/WSBTNews/videos/532723470646470/
Despite what Pete’s campaign said, this meeting WASN’T an endorsement of any kind. As the speaker says herself.
Shades of Pete’s SC Douglas plan were he claimed 400 blacks supported it. In actuality was a cheap underhanded ploy; you had to opt out in a certain time frame or they’d consider you a supporter. Somehow 200 of those 400 were white folk; implied black.
6
Does the pro-Sanders group Our Revolution, mentioned in this article, actually have any plans for helping South Bend, or are they simply interested in disruption? And who gets to be a part of *Our* Revolution — only those who fall into step with their ideas and behind their candidate? This is more exclusionary than anything I’ve seen from any other candidate and tactics like these are what count Sanders my vote in 2016 and will again in 2020 if he continues to support this kind of divisiveness. I am a progressive and I support Buttigieg.
12
Today at a town hall event, a young voter asked Buttigieg: “I wanted to ask if you think that taking big money out of politics includes not taking money off of billionaires and closed-door fundraisers.”
Buttigieg: “No.”
Previously, Buttigieg called small donor money "pocket change."
His campaign manager cleaned up the mess hours later, but it does not erase the attitude and statements from Buttigieg himself.
10
@Ed Mr. Buttigieg is the first to disclose a list of fundraising bundlers to the Center for Public Integrity. His "pocket change" remark was in response to strategy in general election against President Trump, who has raised more money than the entire 2020 democratic candidates combined. You are misquoting his response to the closed-door fundraising question. It is fine if you are supporting a different candidate, but the misinformation and insinuation are not helpful. Mr. Buttigieg is a boost to the progressive wing of the democratic party. He is able to articulate and advocate progressive values to voters of much wider political spectrum. Looking to two 70-years-old for leadership is not sustainable. The combative style the Squad preaches to only the choir. The democratic party could take advantage of Mr. Buttigieg's political acumen.
28
@Ed You’ve posted a fair amt. here today, a lot of it misinformation or purposely taken out of context. Who do you support and how do you propose convincing others to join you? Is your candidate strong enough to win on his or her own merits or do they need to rely on supporters spreading misinformation? I support Buttigieg and think he can win without me needing to distort the words and records of the other candidates.
18
@Jolton I have pointed out: 1) that Buttigieg claimed he reduced the poverty rate in South Bend by half when in fact it was only 6%; 2) that McBride claimed Buttigieg raised the minimum wage to “nearly $15” when in fact it was $10.10; 3) that the Douglass Plan falsely advertised as being endorsed by people who in actuality were misled into the “endorsement” for not “opting out.” It is Buttigieg and his surrogates that are misleading people.
5
Worth reading on this topic.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/henrygomez/pete-buttigieg-black-support-south-bend
1
Please listen to this if you want to understand what's truly going on in South Bend.
https://goodguypete.podbean.com/e/interview-amika-breana-micou-recorded-live/
Good reporting by Trip Gabriel. Sad to say this is the first balanced work I have seen in the subject in major media.
68
@David Trip Gabriel failed to report that the Buttigieg camp is spreading misinformation about his record on the minimum wage. The fact that they told a crowd he increased the minimum wage to “nearly $15” is a huge Pinocchio. He only increased it to $11. Gabriel does point out that Buttigieg got a Pinoccchio for his claim that he reduced the black poverty rate by half, but Gabriel failed to verify or fact check this false claim on the minimum wage. Gabriel also doesn’t mention that the Douglass plan was rolled out in a very misleading manner. The Douglass Plan falsely advertised as being endorsed by 400 prominent black supporters when in fact 40% of them were actually white. Most of them were duped into the “endorsement” for not “opting out.” In other words, Buttigieg tried to manufacture consent from the black community without actually talking to them.
4
@Ed Out of curiosity, which candidate do you find most compelling? I am a Buttigieg fan but I think there are some pretty outstanding choices among the Dem candidates.
1
Pete Buttigieg has high moral standards. He is intelligent and interested in gathering knowledge from others. He cares about social justice deeply. He is young enough to be comfortable with the changes and possibilities of the digital world. My vote is for Pete Buttigieg.
164
@Terry Marsh
I think Mayor Pete, whose sole and very modest governmental experience is serving as mayor of tiny South Bend, Indiana, the 301st largest city in the US (!), is quite a stretch as far as qualifying for President is concerned. Indeed, from recent NYT articles it seems he should be spending more time in South Bend dealing with racial issues instead of hobnobbing with the elite donors of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
Also, while his being gay is a non-issue as far as so many of us urban and Democratic voters are concerned, it may be a significant negative among non-urban and non-Democratic voters, as well as Blacks.
The NYT’s earlier opinion piece on whether Pete is “gay enough” was too subtle a point for many; that he is gay at all, complete with husband, may be too much for many voters in fly-over land.
If Mayor Pete could successfully run for House or Senate or governor of his state, that would bolster his experience and political credentials and might make him a plausible candidate in a later run for President or Vice President.
Remember that our goal is to defeat Trump in 2020, which means finding an electable candidate who will appeal to a large majority of American voters, especially those who felt their needs and concerns were ignored in 2016. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to another term for Trump.
7
@Terry Marsh
Misrepresenting 400 South Carolina residents isn't high moral standards.
https://theintercept.com/2019/11/15/pete-buttigieg-campaign-black-voters/
Attacking Dems. with GOP talking points, saying they don't do anything about the deficit isn't high moral standards.
https://www.opednews.com/articles/O-Donnell-destroys-Buttigi-by-Egberto-Willies-Debt_Democrats-Progressive-191206-947.html
Buttigieg started his campaign as a "progressive". In less than a couple months he has turned into a Biden Lite. Hardly moral standards to shape shift from one side of the spectrum to the other. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/us/politics/buttigieg-campaign-moderate.html
7
@Dobbys sock You’ve posted quite a bit here. Which candidate do you support? Does Buttigieg pose a threat to that candidate?
4
Pete Buttigieg was unknown on the national stage just a few months ago. As more people get to know him, they like what they see, which is why he's rising in the polls.
Mayor Pete is young, smart, energetic and progressive. He was a Rhodes scholar, a two term mayor who got over 70% of the vote in his reelection and enlisted in the Army and served a tour in Afghanistan. His policies are very attractive to many of us. Medicare for all who want it is very appealing. His support of Union workers is very heartening. His support for new gun control laws is comforting and his strong policy prescriptions for combating climate change is absolutely necessary.
The other candidates are starting to feel threatened. They see that Pete appeals to the middle of America. Actually, Mayor Pete is from the middle of America. He would give Trump a very difficult time to paint him as "socialist" or "weak on defense" or "a tax and spend" liberal.
Is Pete Buttigieg perfect? No. No candidate is perfect. But I would be careful painting all black Americans as the same. Younger, college educated blacks support Buttigieg more than those who are older and less well educated. Let's give Mayor Pete a chance. It seems that the more we know about him, the better he looks.
We need to remember that the ultimate goal is to beat Trump. America isn't looking for another flame thrower, they are looking for a return to decency and fairness. Pete Buttigieg fits that bill
13
I trust Mayor Pete . He will treat everyone equal regardless their skin color. These false narratives and smear campaigns are not helpful for voters.
Candidates are not talking about issues instead of trying to smear each other.
We need new generation to take over our politics. Finland elected 32 year old woman as Prime minister today
Meanwhile we are discussing which 70 something years old should be nominee...
15
Pete is a smart guy with an interesting resume. However, he is BY FAR the least qualified candidate in the Democratic race.
5
To Sen. Sanders supporters who are intent on militantly attacking Pete Buttigieg- a fellow progressive with a more inclusive message- I have this quote. (Maybe your building comes up short, aka: get back to work)
"There are two ways to have the tallest building in town. One is to tear everyone else's building down, and the other is to build your building taller." -Jim Rohn (US Author 1930-2009)
10
The real question: Did Mayor Peter help anyone, anywhere except himself?
Buttigieg only cares about one thing - accruing power and prestige just for the sake of it & his own hubris. He may fool the older generations with the eloquent word salad utilized when he’s dodging questions, but many in the younger generation see right through it.
I believe this line from the article gave an acceptable answer to the question in the piece’s title and what we can expect from Peter going forward: “...Mr. Buttigieg claimed to have cut the black poverty rate “by more than half,” a statement that did not withstand a fact checker’s scrutiny.”
4
@Big Scary Indian I don’t know about your older vs younger generation assertion or your claim that Buttigieg just wants power for himself, etc etc. He hadn’t come across that way to me, whereas I am certainly weary of several other current candidates. Which candidate do you support?
6
It turns out that the woman quoted by the NYTimes, Sharon McBride, has not endorsed Buttigieg, according to Henry Gomez of BuzzFeed:
"The event itself was a bit confusing. Buttigieg’s campaign had promoted it as a “special announcement” from black leaders, but Karen White and others made clear they were not there to officially endorse the mayor. Even McBride, who had just returned from a trip to vouch for Buttigieg in South Carolina, the early primary state where a majority of Democratic voters are black, demurred. When I asked her if her surrogate work signaled an endorsement, she gestured for me to turn off my audio recorder, refused to answer on the record, but then acknowledged she plans to go on the road with Buttigieg again."
1
The funny thing is that Pete is not even that moderate -- his plans are very progressive. He is called "moderate" because he talks rather than shouts, and seeks common ground with the other side in a respectful way that doesn't automatically label them all as "deplorables". And then because his *tone* is moderate, people automatically assume he is a corporate tool who doesn't care about progressive goals.
10
@Rodrigo
So well said. I wonder if he almost does too well in wrapping progressive ideas in a package that appeals to moderates. Did he anticipate the degree to which the far left progressive woke crowd would become hysterical and unhinged because they can't differentiate a mild mannered guy in a suit from a Republican
8
“Where are the black leaders that don’t have three-piece suits, leather jackets and nice jewelry!” I notice that the protester who said this isn't even black. Who is he to tell a black woman that she's not qualified to speak because of the way she dresses? I don't think you should assume she cares any less about her community than someone else simply because she's been successful in life. There's an ugly implication that just because a black person didn't grow up poor or found a way out of poverty, they are not in touch with their community, culture, and history. Last time I checked, MLK was an educated man who dressed in suits and ran with the southern church elite. Some people didn't feel represented in that circle, but that didn't mean there was a lack of passion and commitment. I don't know who this council woman is, honestly, but I'm not going to judge her for wearing a leather jacket.
10
Pete's message of inclusivity and working together to make America and the world a better place resonates with me. I truly feel he has the public interest at heart and is the most authentic candidate running today. He has my vote!
26
Buttigieg's record is insufficient and uninspiring. He speaks very well, but his actions place him on the wrong side of history. Democrats must recognize that Trump is the President precisely because the country is experiencing the most extreme economic inequality the world has ever seen, and they must come to terms with their own complicity in this neoliberal project.
Buttigieg is a better example of the problem plaguing our society than he is of a potential solution. The only candidate accepting more money from Wall Street than Buttigieg is Donald Trump. Buttigieg is the only Democratic candidate accepting money from lobbyists. He is best buddies with Mark Zuckerberg, and his sole private-sector employment was as McKinsey. He is hardly the candidate for this historical moment, when historic concentrations of wealth and power need to be confronted.
32
@Fred
What is the source of your statement about Wall Street money? All contributors to the campaign are public. The major source of donors is aggregated on OpenSecrets. The Mayor’s major business contributors look very similar to Bernie’s. Meanwhile Biden gets a much greater percentage of support from large donors and Bloomberg is trying to buy the election. If you’re worried a about big money, you’re looking in the wrong place.
98
@Fred Why do you persist in spreading the false narrative that Pete is “best buddies” with Mark Zuckerberg? I am impressed with the description of the work he did with McKinsey.
61
@ND76 Pardon my dry humor at referring to Buttigieg and Zuckerberg as "best buddies." This comment is a shorthand for Buttigieg's remarkable entanglement with this highly problematic industry, and indeed with Zuckerberg in particular. It's not, unfortunately, a "false narrative":
https://time.com/5705995/zuckerberg-buttigieg/
14
It's good to see the New York Times choosing to venture beyond the same one or two critical voices which it's been quoting all year from South Bend. Clearly, the story of that city isn't a straightforward one - but it's very evident that Mayor Pete has enacted real, concrete steps to improve the lives of both residents in general as well as residents of color in South Bend.
Hopefully this means we can begin to move on from the tired old narratives about Black support, too. The chief reason why Mayor Pete isn't doing well with Black voters is lack of knowledge, as well (like every other candidate in the race) as the fact that Biden enjoys such a large proportion of that support base. Of course it's going to be a huge challenge of his candidacy to see if he can build out his support base - but that's true of all the democratic candidates, not just him.
122
@John
There is much more to be seen than this article.
3
@John
The man grew up in South Bend and has had control of the levers; yet didn't know that his schools weren't integrated.
C'mon.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/pete-buttigieg-desegregation.html
9
@Dobbys sock The reporter misunderstood Mr. Buttigieg's comment and misquoted him. Here is the fact:
"First, South Bend Community School Corporation is under a desegregation consent decree, and for many years, almost all of its schools have had black student enrollments within plus-or-minus 15 percentage points of the district-wide average. That is a common, court-accepted standard for a racially integrated school.
Second, South Bend is a diverse school district, with overall enrollment around 35% black, 10-15% Hispanic and about 50% non-Hispanic white. In contrast, suburban Penn Harris Madison school district is more than 90% non-Hispanic white. So, that is the context of Mayor Pete’s context."
For full analysis, see the blog by Diane Ravitch posted on 12/5/2019.
16
I believe the biggest reason that he has almost 0% black support is that he has never done anything - ANYTHING at even the county or state level - much less federal, national level.
The man has Zero track record except in a very small city, population 100,000 with a city council of 9 that meets twice a month.
This is not time in our country's history where we need a political novice in the presidency.
9
@AliceP First off, the narrative that he doesn't have any black support is false. The biggest issue he has with black voters is that he's not Joe Biden, who consistently garners well over half of black voters in every poll. Pete is currently at either 7% or 4% nationally with black voters based on which recent poll you go by. He is ahead of everyone in black support except Sanders and Warren who have just slightly more. Everyone else is at 0 or 1%.
Additionally, when you dig deeper into these polls you will find that he has very little name recognition with black voters. On average only 40% know who he is, and within that group he generally has 70% or more favorability.
So there is room to grow, it's clear that people like him when they hear him, and it's clear that they would support him if you got the nomination. But for now anyway, it's seem impossible for any of the candidates to overcome Biden's support.
3
The media lives to divide people into groups by race and socioeconomic groups to create decisiveness. Mayor Pete is no trying to round up black votes like someone who only eats yellow M&M’s. He is simply looking for every voter he can find whether they are black, white, yellow, green, etc. He could care less about color and any other characteristic.
9
Buttigieg asked 'how do you talk to black people'
How do you talk to them? I don't know,, like humans beings who are concerned about the same things as all of us: safety, police injustice, the economy, taxes, etc.
Why would he think black people are not similar to non black people? why would he think they have to be spoken to any different than the rest of humanity?
Right there he showed how little does he know.
Right there he lost the black vote.
2
@AutumnLeaf I follow Pete closely and have never heard anything even close to the quote you are quoting. What is your source?
Also, Biden has the black vote tied up. He polls way over 50% in every poll with black voters. He has built up a level of trust after decades on the political scene. Pete and all the other candidates are in the single digits. Nationally Pete is polling between 4% and 7%, better than most of his rivals.
Pete has poor name recognition among black voters. In most polls, more than 60% don't know who he is. But of those that do know him, he generally has a favorability over 70% which indicates that if he got the nomination, he would get a lot of black support.
7
“Who chose these black leaders?”
Excellent question. I would take it a step further to ask why are black people presumed to need “leaders” or some type of intermediary between politicians and black voters?
Mayor Pete has a long road ahead of him in generating black support. The relationship with his black constituents in SB, blaming his low standing on universal black homophobia, faking black endorsements in South Carolina, and implying his life of white privilege is the same as the black experience in this country suggest a racial animus held by Mayor Pete. It certainly isn’t ignorance or merely being tone deaf. At least he hasn’t said a black senator is well spoken, I’ll give him that.
4
@Lynn in DC All campaigns have surrogates; it's a way for candidates to get their messages out and reach voters. Are you saying that Buttigieg should not have any black surrogates?
The rest of your comment distorts both his words and events. Support whichever candidate you like, but please be fair. Tearing down candidates in the primary will only hurt Democrats in the general.
1
@Donna
Straw man argument. I didn’t say anything about surrogates, I.e., people working for Mayor Pete like the two people deployed to explain the Douglass Plan. That is a topic for another day. I am asking why Pete and other politicians cannot speak to black voters directly, the same way they speak to white voters. I don’t know of any “white leaders” who are a conduit between politicians and white voters.
1
Mr. Buttigieg--whom I hope becomes President--has been criticized for low numbers of blacks on the South Bend police force.
It's a phony issue because, for whatever reasons, it's incredibly hard for medium-size cities to recruit black officers.
The Danbury Ct. Police Dept. has been trying to recruit black officers since the early 1990's.
Currently they have a total of 157 officers. Only three are black, one of whom is the police chief.
It's painfully ironic that a progressive myth is harming the candidacy of such a fine person as Mayor Buttigieg.
https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Black-Hispanic-cops-a-minority-on-Danbury-police-13142208.php
19
@Freddy
"Progressive myth"? It's a candidate's job to win voters. If Mayor Buttigieg is having a hard time doing that at the moment, it's his his responsibility to solve. Maybe his campaign is falling short and he needs to reassess how he reaches out to people. It's not the fault of anything called a "progressive myth".
4
Public Service Request:
Can we get actual statistics about changes in the welfare of the communities of color in South Bend during Pete Buttigieg's tenure? That would be content befitting the headline. Instead, we have accounts of protesters and a he said, she said of locals supporting and opposing his candidacy.
The most valid complaint against Buttigieg is that his careful policy proposals and considerate rhetoric as a candidate don't align with his results as a mayor, particularly for communities of color. This article does not do enough to engage this question.
9
I think Mayor Pete, whose sole and very modest governmental experience is serving as mayor of tiny South Bend, Indiana, the 301st largest city in the US (!), is quite a stretch as far as qualifying for President is concerned. Indeed, from recent NYT articles it seems he should be spending more time in South Bend dealing with racial issues instead of hobnobbing with the elite donors of Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
Also, while his being gay is a non-issue as far as so many of us urban and Democratic voters are concerned, it may be a significant negative among non-urban and non-Democratic voters, as well as Blacks.
The NYT’s earlier opinion piece on whether Pete is “gay enough” was too subtle a point for many; that he is gay at all, complete with husband, may be too much for many voters in fly-over land.
If Mayor Pete could successfully run for House or Senate or governor of his state, that would bolster his experience and political credentials and might make him a plausible candidate in a later run for President or Vice President.
Remember that our goal is to defeat Trump in 2020, which means finding an electable candidate who will appeal to a large majority of American voters, especially those who felt their needs and concerns were ignored in 2016. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to another term for Trump.
2
"Mayor Pete" had better start venturing into more cities and states that have sizable communities of color, not only if he wants to get his message across -- but if he wants to get known.
And time isn't on his side.
1
@N. Smith He has been. He started with focus on IA & NH because they go first and if he doesn’t do well there he’s out before the other states have their say. But he and his campaign have been rapidly ramping up with events (round tables, town halls, tours, etc,) and organizing in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, etc. The last week: https://twitter.com/PeteForAmerica/status/1203841691926568961?s=20
3
@N. Smith Mr. Buttigieg is in fact doing a lot of what you are suggesting now, and the campaign have been putting in the time and hard work to meet Black leaders and members of churches; community groups; businesses; health care professionals; educators; the Poor People's Campaign (led by Rev. Dr. William Barber, who hosted and interviewed Buttigieg in an extensive conversation last week); administrators, faculty, and students at several HCBUs; prominent Black radio and television hosts/reporters; and others whom he has met and spoken with in predominantly Black towns.
3
Thank you for putting together the other side of the story. It seems that most of the articles referencing his “lack of black support in his city” would always reference the same few people who all seem to be political rivals of the mayor who have lost elections to him in the past.
Running for national office as an executive is inherently harder than as a legislator. You are responsible for real issues, real problems on the ground. It’s not just governing in theory as is the case for many who draft bills for a living. As someone who lives around many “dying cities” in the Midwest, Mr. Buttigieg’s record in South Bend is impressive. Not perfect, of course - but when you consider where he started, his work is commendable. I remember the many glowing profiles written about him and South Bend before this primary. Sad to see how candidates have chosen to weaponize race and the contentiousness of local government for their own political advantage.
140
@Monica
Excellent, excellent remarks. Particularly " You are responsible for real issues, real problems on the ground." Running a campaign on what you're GOING to do is so much easier than basing it on what you HAVE done. Will Rogers said it better than me: "This election will decide whether experience is an advantage or a handicap."
8
No mention that Pete, who grew up in S. Bend and has had control of the levers of gov. Just found out the schools aren't integrated. . “I have to confess that I was slow to realize — I worked for years under the illusion that our schools in my city were integrated,” Buttigieg said. “Because they had to be, because of a court order.”
Yeah, the man is bright and unaware.
7
@Dobbys sock The reporter misunderstood Mr. Buttigieg's comment and misquoted him. Here is the fact:
"First, South Bend Community School Corporation is under a desegregation consent decree, and for many years, almost all of its schools have had black student enrollments within plus-or-minus 15 percentage points of the district-wide average. That is a common, court-accepted standard for a racially integrated school.
Second, South Bend is a diverse school district, with overall enrollment around 35% black, 10-15% Hispanic and about 50% non-Hispanic white. In contrast, suburban Penn Harris Madison school district is more than 90% non-Hispanic white. So, that is the context of Mayor Pete’s context."
For full analysis, see the blog by Diane Ravitch posted on 12/5/2019.
11
@Dobbys sock
South Bend schools are integrated. Here is Diane Ravitch's correction and apology to Mayor Pete:
https://dianeravitch.net/2019/12/05/correction-an-apology-to-pete-buttigieg-and-the-racially-integrated-public-schools-of-south-bend-indiana/
9
Buttegieg’s candidacy has been exciting and amazing. As one of so many Americans who believe all must be equal for democracy to thrive today, the reality of this extremely bright gay man gaining recognition for his talent and leadership is a huge step in the right direction.
I thought how wonderful he’s running now and becoming nationally known. In a few years (after gaining experience In Congress, or as governor) the country may have tired of hate of ‘others’ and ready to elect a brilliant gay man with a husband simply because he’d be the best candidate.
It worries me that he’s doing so well this year, perhaps scaring away a grand future for himself and for the nation.
I hope he’ll be in Washington the next four years, appointed if it’s too late to run for Congress. We might even imagine him as VP - a risky matter for the 2020 election (but everything is risky now!).
The man deserves to be a national star. Let us give him the time to become a real one!
14
@Jan According to this article, it looks like he's running to be President now. So good news!
14
I am really surprised this article made no mention of Buttigieg's fabricated announcement of Black support for his Douglas plan. Out of the main 3 endorsers, only one actually endorsed the plan (one of them was literally the coordinator for Sanders in South Carolina), and out of the hundreds of other endorsers, more than half were white (it didn't explicitly say they were black, but it was intimated).
8
Mayor Pete took the thankless job of steering South Bend onto the right track, something that will take years. Those who ran against him couldn't even carry their own neighborhoods - time for them to sit down.
The photo of Sanders supporters shows one hold a "cancel student debt" poster. And we're supposed to take them seriously?
29
"South Bend residents identified the protester on social media as a supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont"
Also this weekend, at a Buttigieg town hall in Grinnell Iowa, protesters had a banner that (bizarrely) read "...you will kill us"
So, in the context of unprecedented chaos and corruption, where a malignant narcissist wants to eviscerate LGBT rights, women's rights, the environment, and the social safety net, some Bernie supporters and the woke crowd think it's a good use of their time to try to take down a fellow Democrat who supports the right to choose, environmental protections, protecting gig workers, strong unions, a $15 minimum wage, an increase in the corporate tax rate to the levels that Warren and Sanders want, free public college for the middle class, medicare, etc. etc. etc.
As Mayor Pete said over the weekend 'We appreciate and respect what anybody else has to say. Although I would humbly suggest that it is better to do it by lifting up your own candidate than trying to tear down others'
53
@Jennifer Well said! I find it much more interesting to hear from ppl, whether IRL or in comment sections like these, talk about the candidate they support rather than simply attack all other candidates under the guise of trying to educate the rest of us on the folly of our choices. Dem voters are just as guilty of spreading misinformation as GOP voters are. It’s frustrating to waste time on trash-talking each other when we should be united in taking the Trump trash out of the WH. I am a big fan of Buttigieg because of his policy positions, his candor and demeanor. I welcome others to share why they prefer the candidate of their choice, as opposed to telling me all the ways in which they think my choice is wrong.
12
@Jennifer
I, too, have wondered why the Bernie people use their valuable time and energy to disrupt Pete's appearances?
Are they so insecure that they cannot abide someone who is brilliant and truly compassionate who disagrees with them and their Revolution?
They had better get used to the fact that he will be our next president.
Bernie and Warren are far too radical to win the midwest let alone a general election.
6
Over the past couple of weeks, Mayor Buttigieg or some of his surrogates, have slyly misrepresented Elizabeth Warren's professional history. He touts his transparency compared to other candidates, while shielding his own work history with his former employer's NDA. He doesn't acknowledge much about the limitations and mistakes of his housing revitalizations in South Bend. And just the other day, he took a moment to patronize John Kerry's endorsement of Joe Biden. Mayor Pete's smarts aren't everything; brilliance can't always be deployed to overcome limited experience. And the attitude he's displaying toward other candidates isn't a very good recommendation for him. Still waiting to see something more.
7
Mayor Pete needs to clarify issues and explain why he believes minorities don't have role models. he needs to clarify why in his little town he hasn't made bigger economic achievements since he is so smart, he needs to ex[plain why democrats dont understand deficits as he stated last week.
We are not voting for a blue dog democratic in this election. Dressing himself ups as a VP candidate is insulting to all the people who have worked so hard for so many years. to achieve progress for all people
Mayor Pete is not JFK nor is he President Obama. Thee are many people in this world who are just as smart just maybe not as calculating , being gay is not the same as being a minority.
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The tone of this is refreshing. Not just for its balance and accuracy, but it's the beginning of an antidote to the humiliation of black people being shamelessly used as a political football by his rivals (which the media was happy to encourage). And by the very camp that complained about the same being done to them 2016, no less.
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Buttigieg doesn't have a "black problem" as many like to state. He, as well as all of the other 2020 Candidates but one, have a Biden problem. Biden gets the lion's share of the black vote in South Carolina and subsequently rests on his laurels with the black community by enacting policies that would disproportionately affect communities of color. Yet he's somehow still "invited to the cookout". At least Pete acknowledges that he has work to do when it comes to establishing a national relationship with black voters (who, by the way, are not monolithic in thought). Pete knows the black vote is not to be taken for granted, unlike Biden. Can we please stop peddling this narrative? Every other candidate is polling lowly in SC with black voters, too.
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@John Mr. Buttigieg and the campaign have been putting in the time and hard work to meet Black leaders and members of churches; community groups; businesses; health care professionals; educators; the Poor People's Campaign (led by Rev. Dr. William Barber, who hosted and interviewed Buttigieg in an extensive conversation last week); administrators, faculty, and students at several HCBUs; prominent Black radio and television hosts/reporters; and others whom he has met and spoken with in predominantly Black towns.
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I'm not black and I don't support Pete. I don't like the assumption that his only political weakness is with African Americans. Plenty of left-wing white people I know think that he is a corporate shill and would reject him on those grounds alone. His neglect of the African American community is a serious concern for white voters as well, but there's plenty of things to reject Pete for and none of them (despite the media narrative) involve homophobia.
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@Justice
Corporate shill?
His recent comments on NHPR:
"..reverse the corporate rate cut in the Trump tax cuts"
"..raise more revenue from corporations & the wealthy..b/c the share of tax revenue & the tax burden that has fallen on corporations & the wealthy has gone down over the years & I think that's directly related to the increase in income inequality.."
"..make improvements in our tax system so there is not the incentive for offshore profits...& make sure we enforce better and close loopholes"
"the idea that a company like Amazon who posts billions of profits per year & pays less income tax than anyone in this room, specifically zero, shows you that the system is broken"
"we've got to reform capital gains taxation in this country... taxing those profits in a way that's consistent with how we tax income"
"I've earned a lot about the amoral turn of mind that increasingly dominates corporate America...it's up to us as a Democracy to set the rules, the left & right boundaries, the guardrails for them to operate because the profit motive is not going to lead to ethical actions that don't lead to profit unless we establish as a matter of policy what companies can and can't do. And the drift away from regulating business, from regulating corporations, which has been going on really my entire lifetime....is directly related in my view to the mounting economic & political inequality that we're seeing in the country that is driving us close to a breaking point"
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The article quotes Ms. McBride as saying Buttigieg increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She is misleading the public on this. Buttigieg in an interview with the Des Moines Register said he increased it to $11. Yet another attempt by his campaign to embellish his accomplishments in South Bend. An $11 minimum wage is a far cry from a $15 one. Geez.
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@Ed My understanding is that it phases up to 15 in steps, which is what pretty much all minimum wage increases do to prevent shocks to the system.
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@Ed Whereas the rest of Indiana sits at $7.50 an hour. Thanks, Pete!
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@Jared If that were the case, why didn't Buttigieg talk about it in his interview with the Des Moines Register? He said he increased to $10.10. I was wrong earlier when I claimed he said $11. It was actually $10.10. And now his surrogates are claiming he raised it to "nearly $15." The NYTimes should have fact checked that.
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We have black children packed in the worse schools of America, whose parents don't have a sliver of wealth in comparison to whites, 1/3 black men have been and will be incarcerated in their lifetime, black women are predisposed to higher mortality rates in childbirth, police brutality and the great need for criminal justice reform, and etc and etc.
Do we truly believe that the right person to take this on is Mayor Pete? He may have the vernacular of a Rhodes Scholar and Ivy school graduate (which he is), but he has not done anything substantial that would elicit support from Black people.
The protester is right. We don't need more people in suits "making change."
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@Tiffany
That protester literally shouted down a black elected official -- who had been elected by the people of South Bend by more than 70% of the voters -- telling her that she had no right to voice her opinion. He was disruptive and disrespectful after the speaker told the protester that he would be given an opportunity to state his views after she was done speaking at the event. The problem with protesters like this man who disrupted the Black rally in South Bend is that they are not satisfied with being given the opportunity to speak, they insist upon silencing and shouting down the voices of others -- including those very people they assert that they represent.
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@Tiffany We need more people making change whether they are wearing suits or BLM T shirts. None of the candidates who have spent a lifetime in Washington have any credibility when it comes to action on racial justice. although thay talk a good game in every election cycle. They have not been the leaders on this issue, even the candidates of color. I will bet on someone young, with new ideas and a sincere desire over those who are at the end of their political careers and are just looking for a promotion.
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@Tiffany Who among the current candidates would be the right person to take this on? I haven’t heard much from Warren or Sanders on these issues.
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NYT, if you're going to discuss Mayor Pete's record, let's actually scrutinise it by the numbers. As it doesn't matter how many initiatives you introduce, if they're not working, you have to reevaluate your approach. My source for the below is the WSJ.
Since Mr. Buttigieg became mayor in 2012, the city’s violent crime has surged 70% compared to about 10% Indiana-wide; it has declined in other mid-sized cities in Indiana. Last year the violent crime rate in South Bend was higher than in Chicago.
He demoted the city’s first black police chief in 2012 amid an FBI investigation into his taping phone calls of white officers. Fair enough, but then Mayor Pete hired a white police chief from New Bedford, Massachusetts who was opposed by the rank-and-file officers and the City Council. The new chief resigned after three years without progress in reducing crime. The city has struggled to recruit police officers and has 15 fewer than budgeted for next year. The city’s high school graduation rate has declined from 83% in 2015 to 77%—about 11 points lower than statewide.
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Mayor Pete would be a huge boon to Black voters, who would have a strong advocate for equity and equality in the White House after four years of being alternately denigrated and pandered to. He may not have natural inroads with the community but I hope they give his message of national unity a chance, because Black voters can and will decide the 2020 election in places like Michigan.
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@CP
“A strong advocate for equity and equality in the White House”
WHat exactly does all of this mean? Black voters need specific promises and goals because without them, we can only infer what might happen and politicians can easily say I never promised that. I am aware of the Wikileaks email instructing Democratic politicians to avoid making promises to black voters.
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The Douglass Plan falsely advertised as being endorsed by 400 prominent black supporters when in fact 40% of them were actually white. Most of them were duped into the “endorsement” for not “opting out.”
Now a spokeswoman from his camp says Buttigieg increased the city minimum wage to “nearly $15” when in fact it was $11.
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@Ed I know that a certain online publication (that endorses Sanders)printed a misleading story which was further distorted on social media, but no, the Buttigieg campaign not falsely advertise that 400 black people supported his Douglass Plan. I read the article in the HCBU Times. It did not say that the 400 endorsers were black. Three people, after the article was printed, said they didn't want to be included. Only one said he didn't endorse the plan. The other 397 were fine with it. Everyone was given multiple opportunities to read the article before it was published. I'm sure you have already made up your mind not to support Buttigieg, which is fine. But I think you should have learned, from the last election, that you should check the actual facts before believing every story on social media, or even stories from obvious sources of propaganda.
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@Ed, the figure you quote is for part time work. For full time, as is stated in the story, the minimum wage is close to $15. I trust the Council members, who approve the budget, to have their facts straight.
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@Deb Harrison Lopez Nope, that is wrong. In March, Buttigieg said in his 2019 State of the City address: "Realizing that a $7.25 minimum wage is not enough to get by, we have acted to bring the minimum wage of a city employee to $10.10 an hour, and continue to urge other area employers to do the same."
I'm sorry, but Buttigieg and the city council members are misleading the public about his accomplishments when they say he raised the minimum wage to "nearly $15."
Couple that with his claims that he reduced black poverty by half. It's more like 6%. Yikes!
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One of the men who escorted this protestor away from the front of the venue was the brother of Eric Logan, the man who was fatally shot by police over the summer.
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Nice, balanced article.
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In his interview with the Des Moines Register, Buttigieg claimed he increased the minimum wage to $11 (not $15 as quoted in this article).
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@Ed Hey Ed you’ve said this 3 times already, the appropriate rebuttal is that reaches $15 in phases, Cheers: )
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When, when will leftists realize that by attacking more-moderate candidates, they are utterly destroying the Democratic Party's chances? They are incapable of governing, they are only capable of reactionary protesting. And the less real troubles they have, the more they manufacture complaints. Shameful behavior.
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@Joshmo They're not bothered by the idea of moderate Dems losing to Trump because in their eyes, the reelection of Trump vs. a moderate Dem will magically force the Dems MORE to the radical left and in 2024, and AOC will become President. They're more than happy to burn it all down for that pipe dream.
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It's hard to see his campaign crumble over what is a national problem. When I first saw him on CNN I was captured by his intelligence and clarity. I'm not angry at the black community for holding him accountable, that's fair, nor am I mad at his political rivals playing hardball, that's politics. I will say that the NYT and other media's scrutiny of his McKinsey work is absolutely ridiculous, it's clear you want him to lose. For me he's just a bright spot in an ugly era, a breath of hope. Whether he wins or loses, we'll see him again. Whoever we choose, I hope they beat Trump. The country needs new leadership "bigly."
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@Tom J
His campaign is not crumbling.
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@Tom J His poll numbers have been steadily increasing for months now and he's currently on top in the first two states and 3rd in SC according to a YouGov poll out today. He's barely even started campaigning in SC, and if he wins in IA and wins or finishes strong in NH, his results in SC are likely to be even better. If he exceeds expectations in SC after winning the first two and doing well in NV, its his game to lose.
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@Tom J I think the scrutiny of McKinsey is great. If Mayor Peter is going to move up in this race (which I hope he does) he's going to have to go up against the Trump propaganda machine, which we all know will exploit any weakness (remember the president will go so low as mocking disabled people) and fabricate any lie to trash their opponents. If Mayor Pete can't handle scrutiny from NYT about his day as McKinsey and his lack of support from black voters, I suspect he won't get very far in this race.
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I don't understand why Democratic voters are elevating a candidate whose thin resume is this contentious. We have a former VP, multiple inspiring Senators, a cabinet secretary, and a slew of former mayors with much more glowing recommendations from their communities. Buttigieg's record in Indiana's fourth largest city doesn't seem to warrant his promotion to the most important job in the world. I think we should be very very wary of trusting him to take on Donald Trump.
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@Elizabeth Clark Because it worked with Obama. And Buttegieg for Vice-President with Biden is a strong ticket.
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We support Mayor Pete because he seems to be more compassionate, more connected to reality, and smarter than his opponents.
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@Joshmo This attitude presents Trump as the problem. He's not the problem, he's a truly terrible symptom of the problem. Defeating Trump without correcting the underlying causes that put him in the White House in the first place will only pave the way for another authoritarian GOP demagogue down the line.
This is exactly what's already happened. Remember when all we had to do was get rid of George W. Bush, and the world could get back to normal? Well, we didn't fix the underlying problem that got Bush elected in the first place -- extreme economic inequality -- and thus we ended up with Trump.
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