Someone on NPR said that Pete Buttigieg was the kind of teenager who at parties would be upstairs talking to the parents. That's how he strikes me. As an older gay man, I don't relate to him at all. He is "What Makes Sammy Run?" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Trying." I find him, along with Tulsi Gabbard, the most obnoxious in a field of wonderful current (and former) Democratic presidential candidates.
7
You can argue for and against the age thing. And the experience thing. But you can not argue that Mr. Buttigieg would beat this lunatic, sociopath president. Would he win back the people who decided to take a chance on Trump? He polls poorly with young people and blacks. His sexuality is an issue with some. So he is not a unifier.
Really, is Pete the best candidate Democrats can muster??
21
It's not his age that turns me off of Mr. Buttigieg - it's the fact that he's patently unqualified for the job of President - remarkably so, even by the standards of competitors like Bloomberg, Steyer, Delaney, and Gabbard, who also have no business in the presidential race as far as I'm concerned.
I know Trump was (and somehow remains) more unqualified, but we shouldn't take his grotesque incompetence as an opportunity to just continue lowering the bar.
We should expect more of our elected officials. A respectable military history and an eight year mayor gig in a city of 102,000 people is NOT an appropriate primer for the Presidency.
I'm supposed to believe that qualifies him to deal with North Korea? Or China? Or Iran? What about in combating institutional racism domestically (something he's already proved he struggles with), confronting climate change, or leading the charge to fix America's broken democracy?
I'm supposed to believe Buttigieg is our best answer to Vladimir Putin?
Give me a break.
His continued success will do nothing but frustrate minority voters, progressives, and pragmatists alike. Senator Klobuchar was absolutely correct, we wouldn't be entertaining this if Mayor Pete were a woman. The sooner we realize he's no Jack Kennedy, the better - for America at large, and for the many highly qualified contenders like Kamala Harris, who are being ignored, dismissed, and starved of support, in favour of ANOTHER unqualified white guy.
26
A very wise ship captain told me once upon a time - about a sailor who claimed 30 years experience - that there are those who have 30 years experience and those who have one year of experience repeated 30 times.
27
The answer to the question: NO!!! Pete would be a better president any of the three 70-something front runners.
24
I think he is too inexperienced in government, regardless of his age. Of course, I thought the same thing about Obama (I still think that is true, and that he overcame his lack of experience with pure charisma). Look at the mess out current POTUS has made. He is old as the hills, but came to the job with too little pertinent experience. None, in fact. (He is also a man of remarkably poor character and doubtful mental clarity, but that is another discussion.)
It is possible for a woman or a man to have accrued enough experience by the age of young candidate Buttigeig, but he entered politics relatively late and has been working in a relative backwater. I dismissed him early in the race.
10
His age doesn't bother me. His lack of experience does. Being a mayor of a small, college town is not preparation to basically run the world. Education is not a substitute. I well remember coming out a college ready to lick my elders. Boy did I get learn how little I knew.
13
He is unelectable.
16
I have been put off by Petey since I first heard of him. He is so smarmy, the Eddie Haskell of candidates. My antipathy for Petey was made complete when I learned Mark Zuckerberg has made staffing recommendations to Mayor Pete: yuck yuck yuck.
17
How did Buttigieg get to be so prominent in the first place? I wonder about the big money that must be behind such a stratospheric rise from obscurity.
18
Not only is he too young and has not achieved anything significant yet, but he basically has nothing to say. The media loves him like they loved O’Rourke. This will not last.
The reason they love him is untold though. It is because he’s gay and their infatuation proves that there are woke..
America is certainly not ready to elect a gay president. He would be destroyed by Trump. Trump would just say : « seriously folks, who do you prefer as a First Lady: Melenia or M. Glezman ?”
But he will never go that far: by march, it will be proven that he’s unable to
get any vote from minorities.
7
What motivates people promoting candidates within the Democratic Party that do not appear to be even remotely acceptable to the general electorate? Is it possible that they are unaware they are working to reduce the probability that the Democrats will win the Electoral College? Or are they working as double agents to undermine the Democratic Party?
10
The real question should be is Trump, Sanders, Biden, Warren and the other 70+ candidates too old to be President.
27
Buttigieg has all the right instincts, but he would need two years of on-the-job training, just as Obama did.
We cannot afford that, now; there are too many immediate, existential threats facing us. I believe Biden is the right person for the job—not only to beat Trump, but also to lead the transition to a post-Trump world.
8
It seems to me few people are taking issue with Buttigieg's age. What they are questioning are his loyalties.
Early in his campaign, he appeared to be on a mission of public service and improving the lives of all Americans. Yet with each passing month, he's morphing into the most staged candidate standing. (Hillary 2.0 but for gender and sexual orientation.) He's also showing his primary allegiances rest with Wall Street and big tech.
If incorrect, he should publicly and forcefully lay out his plans for taking on Wall Street and big tech excesses.
17
While the article is mostly about Pete Buttigieg, the question in the headline is fundamentally about age, not the person. We have a president in his 70s, and a number of Democratic candidates in the same age bracket. By definition, their perspective is mostly about the past. Their future is short lived. They don't have to worry about climate change, the future of work, a post capitalist economy, the role of our country in a multi-polar world. What they worry about is their legacy, not our future.
Our founders in their wisdom set a minimum age. They likely didn't set a maximum age, because they couldn't fathom that a 70 year old would run for president. Maybe the question shouldn't be "Is Pete Buttigieg Just Too Young to Be President?", maybe it should be "Are Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren Just Too Old to Be President?"
23
In his opening Bruni mentions the ages of Burr, Hamilton, and Madison at the dawning of our republic. Befitting their youth Burr and Hamilton were aides to Washington during the war. Neither were candidates for president -- as an immigrant Hamilton never could have qualified. The man they served who did become our first president was older and more experience. Also I doubt that they were wiser. Didn't they row across a river to fight a dual leaving one dead and the other an outlaw? Ah, youth.
5
IMO there are exactly x requirements to be a great President:
1. Native intelligence to make reasoned decisions
2. The ability to communicate clearly and compellingly
3. A basic knowledge of and appreciation for the lessons of history
4. A solid moral foundation
5. The willingness to listen to and learn from experts
Pete and several others (not all) have all these in spades. End of story.
38
With the few times i have seen and heard Mayor PETE I became very impressed. I am gay he is gay, some people write and think in times when as a whole, we are NOT yet PROGRESSIVE. many, but Not enough. Sadly, My Logic thinking; this country, as a whole one nation, may not want to vote for this remarkable young man. The Firm where he was working is Adviser to governments, Influences of global companies. This Mayor is smart and will know how to finally deal as President of the USA with all governments with his professional intelligence. For a change... But, I would love to see him as our next Secretary of State for Foreign affairs, serving under next president. Bless us all.
4
Anyone seriously inclined to support this candidate should not just listen to him, but should also do some homework. I have and, so far, I've got Buttigieg somewhere between a garden-variety political opportunist and a "trojan horse" of the corporate establishment. I'm actually not predisposed to be negative. It's just the weight of 31,000 civilian casualties in Afghanistan that makes me especially critical here.
11
Actually, what Buttigieg must muster is finally realizing after Kamala Harris's collapse and Cory Booker's flat-lining at 2% that this isn't an election cycle that favors "identity" candidates--that is, candidates' whose entire rationale is e.g. race (Harris, Booker) or youth (him).
He keeps saying millennials should support him cuz he, like them, will suffer the consequences of e.g. spiraling climate calamity. But he claims, as he did in the Nov. debate, that the fighting in DC is re trivial things. He also says he'll ask GOP politely to cooperate, then shrug.
His campaign throughout has been almost entirely canned, generic cliches and sleights of hand targeting Warren and Sanders, invoking a focus-grouped set of words--"trust" (good!); "choice" (good!); "fight" (bad; very bad)--and cliches provided by the GOP and the healthcare industry. (I'm surprised his focus group didn't come up with a better use of "trust" to undermine support for M4A than "I trust you to figure out your own health care.")
He never talks about his own policy proposals, probably because his guiding principle, or at least his Third Way experts' guiding principle is: The more complex the better!
This is the most plasticized presidential candidate campaign I can recall. Ever.
15
It's not just Buttigieg's age. It's his age combined with his inexperience. Obama was inexperienced and often performed like a rookie quarterback in a Super Bowl game. It was rough to watch.
McConnell literally stole a SCOTUS nomination from him. It was like taking candy from a baby. If democrats want their lunch money taken, they should elect another rookie.
14
The US is SO FAR BEHIND the rest of the world.
Where are our women Presidents?
I am a Boomer, a feminist and I am fed up. Beyond fed up.
Pete is Brilliant and I would vote for him if it comes to that.
But Women are brilliant strategists = Nancy Pelosi. = Kamala Harris. = Amy Klobuchar. = AOC. + all the of them smart youngin's now in Congress.
I want real change.
I want to see only women's faces on the front page of the NY Times since I have had to see men's faces there for the last 67 years.
9
Sadly Trump has lowered the bar so low that anybody can run and be better. I’ll bet if you picked a thousand reasonably intelligent people to replace trump, you could get at least 10 million votes on each to replace trump. But should you?!
The cream no longer rises. The left distorted facts for an alternate reality. The right did away with it all together!
2
Too young? All I want to know these days is, "Is [pronoun] too awful to be president?" Because we've got one who is. Anyone who can beat him without being worse is my pick.
But you know what? A lot of people are going to go for "the devil you know." How naive we were to think we couldn't do worse than Bush. Now I fear we _can_ do worse than Trump, because the bottom has rotted out; and that is purely terrifying.
9
Inexperienced. Do not care how smooth he is. Mayor of a little town is insufficient work experience.
17
Maybe this will help some folks who are on the fence about Pete's ability to take on Trump. Leftist writer and Warren supporter Nicole Cliffe was attacked by the far left this week when it was discovered that she had donated the maximum allowed to Buttigieg. She explained that as a college student Buttigieg stepped in and confronted three men who were harassing her outside a bar. "He did just did it very quietly and with great ease," she said.
Some things -- like personal courage and self-sacrifice -- transcend ideology. Can you imagine Trump doing this for anyone? He'd far more likely be one of the predators. I can't WAIT for this match-up.
33
Definitely Not. But he's too gay for the majority of the conservative voters that he needs to beat Trump. Sad but true
4
The fact that Buttigieg is not presidential material has nothing to do with his age, his being gay like you or a Harvard grad like me. He is just an opportunistic empty suit who worked for a company of ill-repute (yes that is the correct word) and fought in an unjust imperialistic war as a resume- padding volunteer for military service. He is unable to run a college town where racial strife is clearly visible.
Get over with it and support people who will help this country move towards a fair an just society where one goes to sleep without knowing who one will get up as and be indifferent to the fact.
13
Let's discuss the "elephant in the room." Are we ready for a gay president? Even before we elect a woman? Sorry, I do not think so.
12
Anyone old enough to remember the arguments for keeping us in Viet Nam should recognize the same, loaded arguments about "honor", etc. used by Pete Buttigieg now to keep us killing civilians in Afghanistan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdYu2yXpmqo
(His lowly janitor story was a nice touch....)
3
Mayor of a small town stepping into the role of President of the United States? I don't care how smart he is, this is no place for a first rodeo. The arrogance is from thinking it's OK.
There will be much damage to repair after the current inexperienced person somehow snagled into this job.
To some extent, the current inexpereinced person got this jobl was because this predecessor (with all due respect) failed to accomplish one of the great tasks of leadership: achieving workable unity. Had President Obama worked more closely with the DNC, preventing them from devolving into a squabble of ineffective provocateurs, there may have been actual support from that quarter for the Democratic nominee, as well as the process for selecting that nominee.
Now we are left with a mess. It would be more helpful to have someone in that job who has a clue how to clean it up. Buttigieg can't sort out the Indianapolis police department to assure dring while black isn't a crime. How will he sort out the messes - foreign and domestic, political and environemntal - that we now face.
Please stop blaming the mess on boomers. As a cohort, we have nothing to apologize for, and much to be proud of. Like all generations, boomers must work with everyone else who is currently alive to regenerate democracy and care for the earth. There's plenty of room for new leadership, but let those who want to be leaders learn how before asking for the top job.
6
Agree 100%. And without the Senate, winning the White House is somewhat meaningless. Why didn’t Pete and Beto go for Senate seats? Ego?
6
@MEH There is no Senate seat up in Indiana in 2020.
7
I like Pete and am heartened to see the political machine hasn't chewed up and spit out all of the younger candidates. I may be way off base, but my greatest concern is his lack of experience on the national front. We already have a president with no political experience whatsoever, and see where that's gotten us. There are a lot of advisory and cabinet positions to be filled, which have remained vacant or headed by "acting" administrators. I know this is partly because Trump thinks he rules the nation, but I also feel it is because he just doesn't know anyone or have the "connections" to appoint anyone both competent and bendable to his will. Where and from what sources would Pete draw upon to fill these very important positions?
4
Amen. Not a peep from him to deal with this fundamental question because mayor of a college town is not the same, nor is it sufficient to experience for President. Clearly he does not even run the city, how could he do so from the campaign trail? Wonder how the rest of the city council and city management feel about it?
2
Perhaps we should ignore everyone's age who is running and focus on what their policies are that they hope to push through while in office.
I wish the press would start honing in on each Candidates policies, not their age.
20
Mr. Bruni continues to agonize over Mayor Pete's age (this is not the first time he's written about it). At a certain point you need to ask: would he make a good President? And after listening to him and following him for months, I think he clearly would, and would represent the sort of generational change that excited and energized the country in the past, especially by Presidents Kennedy and Obama. My hope is that, while Bruni continues his Hamlet soliloquys, Democrats recognize the unique, historical candidacy of Pete Buttigieg.
15
It bothers me also that Pete will only be 39 on inauguration day, January 20. 2021. (His birthday is the day before.) But on that same day Donald Trump will be 74, Joe Biden will be 78, Bernie will be 79, Liz Warren will be 71, and Mike Bloomberg will be 78. Those are you choices—I can’t think of anybody else who could be our next president. So it’s either Pete or a 70+ year-old.
I’m not arguing for Pete, and in fact I favor Mike Bloomberg, despite his age. And I do think Pete could use a bit more seasoning. But if I had to choose between Pete, Trump, or Joe Biden that would be an easy choice for me—it would have to be Pete.
My point? I have two. First, if you’re going to get anxious about Pete’s youth then also consider the flip of this problem; if Joe runs for a second term he would be 86 on his last day in office. And second, it’s all relative—what’s better, a 39-year-old Pete for one of these oldsters?
11
@Jerry Schulz
What's better is a Bernie/Tulsi arrangement, imo. This would turn the country around and actually be a very electable combination. (But you wouldn't know this from reading NYT.) As always, it's just a matter of getting past the Democratic establishment. Republicans are of FAR secondary concern to true progressives, who seek to level the playing field for everyone in America.
3
Lincoln was already 51 at the time of his first election as president and he was a national leader in the movement to limit slavery. A man of great oratorical and political genius. Please not to compare Mayor Pete with Lincoln! Obama was already 49 when first elected, and a riveting speaking, law professor, U.S. Senator, etc.
Pete is considerably younger than was Lincoln and Obama, and his
experience as mayor and business consultant appears rather problematic and superficial for the job of Commander in Chief.
1
Interesting background note: Like so many other provisions of our Constitution, the origin of the age requirements for election to the House, Senate, and Presidency all were adapted from ancient Republican-era Rome. An aspiring Roman politician would climb the cursus honorum, a series of ever more senior positions. The ages were not random. It was believed that a man (and politicians were all men in ancient Rome, just as they were in the USA for the first 150 years) reached his combined peak of mental and physical strength at 35 or 36. Older men may have more experience, but do not have the strength of a 35-year old. Similarly, a 21-year old may be physically stronger, but lacks the experience and maturity of a 35-year old. Being elected Consul "in sunno annum" (in one's year, meaning at the age of 35) was considered the mark of the true leader who would continue to make contributions to society long after his initial term as Consul.
Of course, those who favor an older President can always look to Lucius Cornelius Sulla, AKA Sulla the Dictator, who changed the rules to make the youngest possible age for a Consul 41. Sulla's changes were later reversed and the whole cursus honorum broke down when Octavian Caesar, cognomen Agustus, became Consul at age 19 after marching on Rome with his army.
3
Said it before, the winning ticket is Sanders/Pete. Because Sanders will get excite the young/black/latino vote that must be added to the normal dem vote in order to win midwest states (that vote didn't come out for Clinton). Pete will reassure suburban moderates that, truth be told, if Sanders kicks off early (age is an issue for us all when close to 80) a moderate will step in.
4
His age...
The question is, do we know enough about him?
That's what concerns me.
4
No, but Biden is too old. And I’m 71.
6
It is time for a new Greatest Generation. He can start us on that mission.
11
All of this is like walking into a grocery store that has five types of organic grapes and we want a sixth, and has four types of line caught salmon and we want a fifth. When we walk into Trump’s (or any Republican’s) store, we see filth, and moldy rotten food, and stollen items for resale. My god, we need to give anyone a break who will get into office and put thought and intelligence and care into their decisions and try, at least try, to do the right thing. Let’s get rid of the filth and the idea of filth, and our country will be better off no matter what!
8
@timbo You're right that age has nothing to do with it. We have a 74 year old president now with NO qualifications or aptitude for the job. Buttigieg would bring a relative vast wealth of experience and competence by comparison.
11
I'm seventy-six years old.
I would not want someone my age to be president.
Trust me.
18
I'd rather vote for a thirty something that can articulate and wants to learn than older people who are perennially upset and stubbornly refuse to accept their errors. So its Buttigieg over the others for me.
15
"It suggests an intensity of ambition and a presumptuousness" -- I believe an intensity of ambition and a presumptuousness is a necessary characteristic of anybody who would run for President.
14
He is not too young. What does that mean... come on. Please address how not any of the Democrats running can win... regardless of age .
2
Pete would make a fine President, no problem. I fear that most Boomers and older (that's the "Silent Generation") are showing their exhaustion and just want a place-holder, seat-warmer for a few years. No more drama, just give me another Gerald Ford. Well, Yikes! We don't have time for that. And BTW, I'm one of the Silent Generation, born in 1942 in rural western New York State but by the age of 18 in Berkeley in 1960 I was anything but silent. Mario Savio was the same age and by 1966 his "put your bodies on the gears" speech rang a bell in the students and others that is still heard today. The Gen Zers are roused by Greta Thunberg's stand and I and many of my era are totally with her. I like Bernie's ideas but can't abide his finger-stabbing, lecturing tone. I feel Warren's frustration and anger at the wishful retro "good-old-days" folks but I don't think she can unite us. Biden is too staid, Bloomberg too rich and Klobuchar seems better at riposte than at leading. Give me Pete any day and we might see comity again in Congress. We will definitely see new ideas and a return to global responsibility.
15
You should throw two other candidates into your assessment pool
Andrew Yang - young enough and full of good programs to allow everyone to thrive in the best future. MATH !
Tom Steyer - has fought to save the planet - has been a strong advocate for truth justice and true voting form. Yes he is 62 - but decades younger than Biden in approach and results
6
Whether Buttigieg is too young, and he may be, one thing is certain - anyone who will be 70 years of age or more on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2012, should not be president.
That means Trump, Warren, Biden, Bloomberg, and Sanders. Am I age biased? No. I am their peer in years.
No one over 70 should be president and certainly, no one who would be age 82 or 83 when contemplating reelection (Bloomberg, Biden, Sanders) - that is beyond stupid.
Further, because everyone I know in these years thinks about it often enough, we know the window is closing, we are all too aware that many people past 70 don't get to be 80.
Whether Buttigieg is too young, and he may be, one thing is certain - anyone who will be 70 years of age or more on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2012, should not be president.
That is the more consequential matter concerning the age of presidents.
12
So your conclusion in this opinion piece is maybe he's too young, maybe he isn't. Maybe he's too disciplined, maybe he isn't. Your dispassion is pointless. Pete Buttigieg is a once-in-a generation candidate and he has my unwavering support.
8
Oh please. He looks younger than he is. Trump looks older than he is-- you know when women wear a lot of makeup it oftentimes ages them. This isn't Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with this one is juuuussst right. He's a smart person capable of running circles physically and mentally around that clown in office now. They all are.
9
It is time for the young to take over...,
The planets future should be in their hands
The old want to go back not forward...like lemmings running in reverse over a cliff to a bottomless past where all things will end!
I am 75, a scientist whose curiosity can never be sated ... I would like to believe that the world will come together in the near future so we can all thrive
Go Greta help us all save the world for my grandchildren.
Go Mayor Pete - you will make a forward looking President - good for USA and the rest of the world!
15
Yes, he’s too young, and too inexperienced. I honor his military service, but one seven month tour in Afghanistan doesn’t make him Ike. And his couple of years at McKinsey, although apparently reviled by the left, wasn’t long enough to teach him much about business or management. And to be honest, his track record as mayor of a tiny city is not encouraging; it would be generous to call it mixed. We have to stop treating the presidency as an entry level position. He would be the third unqualified president in a row.
9
@Cas
Well said. Progressives should be careful. They have a tendency to conflate holding policies they like with delivering them.
5
In a word, no. Personally, I have 58 years of life seeing what experience brings. Too much is not okay in our nation and neighborhoods. Mr. Buttigieg brings vision, values, and commitment sorely lacking and urgently needed. His potential for leadership and contribution is too great to pass up. Experience shows we don't have to imagine much what any of the other candidates will bring us during four or eight years under any of their Administrations. I've become a big fan of the Mayor and very much hope he continues to succeed.
13
Re: "It predates concerns about his work as a consultant with McKinsey or his trouble building support among African-Americans." The McKinsey issue is insubstantial. In this multi-candidate primary, there are many choices that African American's might gravitate to such that Buttigieg would not be a natural first choice. It would be better if we had some time of alternative polling method that allowed for ranking preferences and not just a single choice to better determine Buttigieg's appeal in this, or in any, community. A poll could also ask, if candidate x won the nomination would they support over Trump. Personally I would like to see Buttigieg get some seasoning as a VP under say a single term Biden, but I do believe he could take on the job now as well as any of the candidates.
2
Well, Trump is lots older and that doesn't seem to have added any wisdom to him. Really, Frank, this age business is all kind of silly.
6
Donald Trump is too crooked to be president, and by all appearances Buttigieg would be an immense improvement. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the darn good.
15
Mayor Pete says basically most of the right things and has good energy that will carry him forward.
Not sure I see a running mate of stature that would happily be his VP. (Buttigieg/......r? Sorry but just can't see the perfect match).
We will see.
(I do see him as being on the ticket as a VP tho')
1
Is Buttigieg too young to be President? Why even present this question when the current president has the emotional quotient of a toddler and an IQ to match.
16
How many more positive articles about Mayor Pete will Frank continue to write? He might as well resign The NY Times and become Pete’s press secretary. Frank is part of the white, privileged, gay male cabal who have fueled $$$ Pete’s campaign. These are the same men who utterly freeze out and do not associate themselves with other gay people of color in their personal lives including all the other letters of LBGTQ except “G.” And people are surprised that Mayor Pete isn’t garnering support among people of color? Ask the Mayor how many best friends, I mean real best friends, he has that is a person of color. Ask Frank. Believe me that both of these guys will have NONE. Ask them how many people of color attended Mayor Pete’s splashy fundraisers in Manhattan? Not many. Who cares about age? He’s never going to win the nomination without support from people other than rich, white gay males. Before you expect people of color in the general population to vote for Pete, I think he and those of his privileged ilk need to look to their own houses for more real inclusion.
6
No mention of this candidate's platform, just a lot of talk about his youthfulness. A fluff piece, a distraction, a red herring, a straw man essay about nothing.
5
Yes.
2
So, Bruni's nitpicking with Buttigieg continues. Why not just sum up everything about Buttigieg that 'concerns' you in one opinion column and then move on to another topic?
2
It’s not his age. Every other young President had been a Governor or a Senator first. And Roosevelt became President first because the President was assassinated. We haven’t, to my recollection, ever elected someone straight from Mayor to President before, even Mayors of very large cities. I think it’s interesting that he’s the choice of people old enough to be his parents. They overestimate the virtue and ability of youth as a quality in itself. And the more I learn about Mayor Pete, the less I like him.
5
"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now" Bob Dylan
Pete is still way too old.
2
The guy is incredibly smart, articulate and has a concrete vision. It's petty thinking that at 37, "he's too young". That's just the media creating an "issue" that isn't even there. The media created the same issue about Kennedy in 1960 (along with his Catholic religion) and that came to nothing. He was one of the wisest presidents in modern history. Could anyone older have handled the Cuban missile crisis as he did? I prefer Joe Biden and would recommend Mayor Pete as a VP candidate . I don't care about gender or racial balance. I want the best 2 persons running who can not only defeat Trump but govern sensibly.
6
Every time Mayor Pete answers a question, he responds with a thoughtful answer that make consummate sense. He'd make mincemeat of Trump in a debate. I have no reason to trust or distrust Pete but he somehow inspires trust. I was born in 1946, too. Lived thorough the assassinations, Vietnam, Watergate, Nixon, 9-11, four stock market crashes. And I can testify that America and the world is in far worse shape, now, going into 2020, than I could even imagine.
14
IMO he's too young, needs to work his way up the career ladder with a term as Governor and 2-3 terms in the House and one in the Senate before ascending to the Oval Office.
He, AOC, and most of us can come up with great ideas for how the nation should run but it takes seasoning to develop into a viable and successful leader.
You don't go straight from a rowboat to running an aircraft carrier.
9
Just stop.
This is a vote for the Constitution. Anyone is better than what is there and, barring a candidate who is actually a right wing plant running as a democrat, vote for whoever it is.
8
Buttigieg is a business as usual corporate Democrat, that's why the young aren't with him, he doesn't speak to their issues. It is precisely Bernie's ability to bring out the young voters which would win the election.
10
Just stop. If you don't like the Democratic party, leave it. I assure you Bernie, who JOINED us, needs the Dems. This kind of thing is what Bernie supporters did last time. You want our votes if he wins the primary--and we will vote for him-- but you're threatening not to support anyone else? OK, millennial.
12
@Lil50
I would suggest that anyone who believes Bernie is "too far left" leave the Democratic party. If that's the case, you're less of a Democrat than he is. There's another party that might be a better fit.
3
The historical context of setting a minimum age of 35 occurred at a time when an educated man entered college at 16 or younger and was likely to be dead by age 40.
8
Buttigieg is intelligent, energetic, and brimming with ideas yet he has failed to capture the support of critical swathes of the electorate. Why is that? While he is young and lacks experience on a larger political stage, I don't think that these factors explain the muted enthusiasm. Intelligence, energy, and great ideas are essential but if not coupled with empathy for the needs of people and the ability to communicate those feelings passionately, potential supporters will see the candidate as robotic and turn away.
4
I will vote for Pete. I was going to support Bernie but I am voting for Pete in the primary. So no, he is not too young.
18
The answer is is a definite no. I'll take Pete all day long over 70 year olds who have done nothing for me. In fact, along with term limits, I'd like to see age limits on presidential candidates as well as members of congress. They should all be forced to retire at 65.
Pete's a smart person and has proven that he can move to the international stage intelligently, adeptly and eloquently. He has my vote.
18
@Sydney
I'd rather see limits on campaign donations and corporate lobbying. But I doubt Pete would be for that, based on who he's meeting with and asking for money from.
2
I looked it up, on Wikipedia: The average age of a President at their inauguration is 55 years & 3 months. Mayor Pete is about 18 years below that average. I have suspected all along that his campaign has been one to get into the national picture for a future run in four or eight years. Even in eight years he will still be below the average by 10 years.
4
Why should we be questioning whether Mayor Pete is too young to be in office, we have a present occupant who has evidently not progressed past the age and behavior of a 10-year-old. Anything or anyone would be a vast improvement (no offense to 10-year-olds, I know many who are much wiser and more focused than he)
21
Fox News poll as of Dec. 15, 2019:
Trump VS Biden = Biden by +7
Trump vs Sanders = Sanders by +6
Trump VS Warren = Warren by +1
Trump VS Buttigieg = Buttigieg by +1.
Your hand wringing over who to choose is just that - hand wringing. Every major Dem candidate beats Trump according to today's FOX News poll, for goodness sakes! Fox, of all polls! Even Fox registered voters are sick of the Trump show and want him gone. That speaks volumes to me.
And yes, Pete is too young and inexperienced. I had my qualms about Obama but was a good Dem and voted twice for him despite my misgivings about his lack of federal government experience. Look at what we're finding out now about Mr. Corporate Democrat and Afghanistan, how he failed us on Main Street after the crash and let the big bankers get away with one of the greatest heists in American history while millions went bankrupt and became homeless, and caved to allowing private insurance company lobbyists and the GOP dictate that a public, single payer system be scrapped. Sorry, you need more life experience, Pete. I'm 54 and there's a lifetime of experience to be gained between 37 and 54.
15
@Sheila
Exactly. Thanks. And Sanders' electoral advantages over Warren and Buttigieg, in particular, are even greater because of his popularity in rural and industrial midwestern "swing" states, compared to theirs.
7
Pete Buttigieg's age is much less of an issue than his experience. He has no legislative experience, and knows nothing first hand about working with a true legislature. There is, shall we say, a difference between the executive experience of leading a small city and that of leading the federal government. His other experience is with McKinsey, which is troubling. It's hardly surprising that he's relatively conservative for a contemporary Democrat. If the Republican Party had room for gay politicians, I wonder if Pete Buttigieg even would be a Democrat. Under our present unusual experiences, we need a new president with the smallest possible learning curve. That wouldn't be Mayor Buttigieg.
7
Stephen Merritt:
Of course Trump had extensive experience: pretending to fire people on TV, as well as cheating contractors & others by refusing to pay them, diverting funds from his (now shut down) “charitable foundation” to pay for his own portrait, Trump University, every manner of self-promotion. He is the biggest grifter to ever occupy the White House - certainly in modern history. He has associated with gangsters his entire adult life. Yet people voted for him. So much for “experience” .
Not one of the current Democratic presidential candidates can stand before the voters and say: “This is my experience from the last time I was President.” Biden comes closest but does he have the energy & vision to not only right the ship but to set a new course for the huge challenges we face?
I’m in my 70’s so the future is not about me. It belongs to the younger generations. We should vote for their interests.
6
No, Buttigieg is too terrible a candidate to be president.
For someone who supposedly represents fresh, new leadership, Buttigieg walks and talks like a dime a dozen DC politico, whose neoliberal platform is based on economic conditions and living standards that we’re already deteriorating by the time he was born.
Buttigieg is generational change in biological age only.
12
@Jen Agree. PB is a horrible candidate with a myriad of shortcomings not the least of which is a profound dissonance with black folk in his own community. In his own words, "I'm not asking for your vote." So, there you go. A Dem who can't garner the votes of people of color is not a viable candidate.
1
@Sasquatch
Please watch the video where Buttigieg said I'm not asking for your vote. He was saying, I'm not here to campaign, I'm here in solidarity with the community. I cannot believe people are still saying this as though it's a valid criticism.
4
@Jen
Well put. He's a slick protector of the status quo, including our military interventionism... a regressive candidate (at least as a Democrat).
3
Our democracy is literally hanging by a thread. It is not a stretch to believe we could become an autocracy in the next decade.
There is only one question: who can beat Trump. Nothing else matters. Nothing!
No one knows if America is ready to elect an openly gay President. While I don't think it will hurt Pete in NY, CA or MA, having grown up in PA, I believe it may well be a deciding factor there and in places like WI and MI.
I hope Mayor Pete will be my President someday. But I don't know that 2020 is his moment.
5
@Sparky
Here's a novel idea for Democrats: vote for the person you believe will make the best president, not the person pundits have made you believe will be most acceptable to "other people".
9
It is ironic that Trump, by any measure, is unfit for the presidency while the Democrats are quibbling over the technical qualifications of their field of candidates. Mayor Pete is too young, Biden is too old, Bernie yells too much and Elizabeth is a peculiar combination of a socialist and devout capitalist. Are we kidding? Any of these candidates, and most of the lesser knowns is eminently more qualified than Trump.
And yet, in a rational world, which ours is apparently no longer (witness the fact that we're allowing the planet to burn up and just shrug it off), Mayor Pete would be considered a few years shy in both age and governance of being qualified for the presidency.
So that's where I come down. But I'd certainly vote for him if he became the nominee.
12
Buttigieg showed promise at the very start, and if he stuck with his own vision he would have a better chance at winning the nomination. People would see him as being strong and trustworthy. But Buttigieg has chosen a different path.
Two nights ago, he met with Google, Facebook and Netflix billionaires at a fundraiser where he claims he is using the money to beat Trump. The fact is he is using the money to beat Warren who has promised to breakup BigTech. Buttigieg is friends with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Zuckerberg has been meeting privately with Trump (and Brett Kavanaugh) because he views Warren as an “existential threat.” Facebook undermined our Democracy in 2016 and has done next to nothing to prevent it from happening again.
It's a matter of trust. Do you trust a candidate who is friends with man who runs the leading social network in the world, where half of Americans get their news? Do you trust a candidate who jet-sets from Manhattan fundraisers with billionaire bankers to Silicon Valley fundraisers with billionaire tech CEOs?
Buttigieg is a blake slate. We can't even judge him by his own record or resume because it's too thin. His policies have shifted left to right. He is being shaped and molded by political consultants, CEOs and billionaires, rather than by his own vision, experience and beliefs.
6
@Ed
If the fundraiser you're talking about is the one on the Upper West Side last week, it's interesting to note (as the Times did) that the same host actually hosted a private Senate campaign fundraiser for Warren in 2012.
Buttigieg is not in the pocket of Facebook. He's acquaintances w/Zuckerberg (not 'friends') & I don't think driving him around South Bend one afternoon should disqualify him from the presidency.
Here are Buttigieg's comments (from 'Indivisible Live'):
"There's no question that these big tech companies have to bear greater responsibility...Facebook deciding that they're just going to be neutral on whether lies are being sold for profit on their platform completely misses their responsibility. Now companies like that may well need to be broken up b/c of monopoly issues but just to be clear, that would not solve this problem. The problem is the responsibility...that companies of any size have over the information that's being peddled over their airwaves. A TV station, if they were airing an ad that was false, they'd be expected to pull it. The same aught to be true when it comes to on-line platforms. But it also shouldn't be up to the companies. There are way too many decisions that are being left to these companies b/c Washington hasn't figured out how to regulate them and so way too much power is being concentrated in the hands of firms whose private company policy decisions amount to public policy decisions with none of the accountability...."
8
@Ed
Warren has and will play ball with the corporate establishment, campaign rhetoric and policy proposals notwithstanding. Make no mistake, it is Bernie Sanders who makes them nervous, imo. True integrity is a threatening thing in that world.
1
Buttigieg showed promise at the very start, and if he stuck with his own vision he would have a better chance at winning the nomination. People would see him as being strong and trustworthy. But Buttigieg has chosen a different path.
Two nights ago, he met with Google, Facebook and Netflix billionaires at a fundraiser where he claims he is using the money to beat Trump. The fact is he is using the money to beat Warren who has promised to breakup BigTech. Buttigieg is friends with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Zuckerberg has been meeting privately with Trump (and Brett Kavanaugh) because he views Warren as an “existential threat.” Facebook undermined our Democracy in 2016 and has done next to nothing to prevent it from happening again.
It's a matter of trust. Do you trust a candidate who is friends with a man who runs the leading social network in the world, where half of Americans get their news? Do you trust a candidate who jet-sets from Manhattan fundraisers with billionaire bankers to Silicon Valley fundraisers with billionaire tech CEOs?
Buttigieg is a blank slate. We can't even judge him by his own record or resume because it's too thin. His policies have shifted left to right. He is being shaped and molded by political consultants, CEOs and billionaires, rather than by his own vision, experience and beliefs.
2
Mr Buttigieg is is not at all too young or too inexperienced. The only reason I would have pause in voting for him is the Medicare issue (I’m for single payor/socialized something, like our other friends in the developed world, not the mess we have: the ridiculous, crushing open market system).
I actually imagine a debate between candidates, Trump vs. Mayor Pete, and can easily envisage Pete trouncing Trump handily. Trump would look and sound his age (a dinosaur) and act like a child, all of which would make Pete’s measured, intelligence shine.
5
"Young people do not support Buttigieg precisely because his policies are... in step with Boomers who have enough wealth to retire and don't believe any radical change is needed"
We, like MOST boomers, DO think radical change is needed. And Mayor Pete stands for that radical change! It's just not SUCH radical change that he becomes unelectable.
It sounds like you think Boomers who worked hard all of their lives SHOULD perhaps live in poverty. We are barely making it if that makes you feel better.
All Democrats should be clear that our enemy is NOT other Democrats -- stop dividing us all up, young and old!!! Your enemy is Trump, Republicans, corporatists and the wealthy, who are enslaving the working class. Mayor Pete is addressing this issue!
Also most retired boomers I know, like me and my husband, think 100 times before spending anything. We are frugal to a fault because we need to be and we should be.
Reports say Boomers "to inherit over $68 trillion from their Baby Boomer parents by the year 2030."
We advocate Mayor Pete's Medicare plan -- though it might imperil our own health coverage. We advocate protecting the environment as well! Personally we gain NOTHING from supporting this. It's just the moral thing to do.
12
Young? No... Not enough legislative experience? Yes.
6
It's not youth but inexperience that is in question. JFK had served as a Senator. Mr. Buttigieg is a small town mayor.
10
The problem isn’t age, it is a lack of accomplishment in governance and for moderates a fairly left political philosophy. I admire his military service, academic accomplishments and even his work with McKinsey but his record as South Bend Mayor is mediocre at best. His relationship to the black community in South Bend also appears strained and some of that may come from his inexperience. He also has a tendency, like Hilary, to pander to minorities in a very transparent way that comes off as disingenuous.
2
Bruni deserves at least a half compliment - he seems to grudgingly give Buttigieg a bit of a chance.
I watched the WaPo live interview with Buttigieg on YouTube the other day, and I have to say, Buttigieg comes across very well: calm, thoughtful answers, intelligence, and the deep commitment to the democratic principles of our country, and maturity.
You know the old saying: 20 years of experience, or 1 year of experience 20 times.
As far as Biden hinting at one term: this is his 3rd time trying for the presidency. If he wins you think he would stop at 1 term? I certainly don't think so.
My vote is for Buttigieg.
9
Not too young. Too inexperienced.
5
He doesn't have bone spurs, hasn't had a heart attack, isn't a woman (I'm not trying to sound sexist, it's just that imho a woman isn't what is needed to run against "the chosen one"), and he is a Rhodes Scholar (smart as a whip), speaks seven languages (and counting), is a mayor (which trumps [pun intended] a reality TV host) and has served in the military. Best of all, he is YOUNG! I can just see the perplexed look on dear leader's face when Mr. Buttigieg runs intellectual rings around him in the debates . . .
10
“I’m not trying to sound sexist...” Also, that’s assuming Trump agrees to debates, which right now doesn’t look likely.
Yeah Trump’s generation, e.g., McConnell, Graham, Collins et al, has served us sooo well, we can’t trust guys like the founding fathers or MLK, or JFK, who were mostly younger than Buttigieg to govern effectively,
If he can run with an African American woman, like Kamala or Stacy Abrams, for example, that’s a powerful ticket.
Also,I hope the media stops referring to him as “Mayor
Pete”. It’s disrespectful and condescending.
7
Ironic that in a country that elected Donald Trump we’re now concerned about who is “qualified” to be President. Talk about “shutting the barn door”....
10
I'd take Mayor Bloomberg over Mayor Pete.
2
The GOP could use a few good candidates. I'm stickin with Bernie; Mayor Pete reminds me more of a progessive Republican, a la Mayor Lindsay than a contemporary progessive Democrat. He's got too much corporate appeal!
4
PB is a horrible candidate with a myriad of shortcomings not the least of which is a profound dissonance with black folk in his own community. In his own words, "I'm not asking for your vote." So, there you go. A Dem who can't garner the votes of people of color is not a viable candidate.
4
@Sasquatch These aren't even half-truths; your comments are distorting both situations.
First, the Mayor had returned, in his capacity as Mayor, not candidate, to South Bend after the police shooting. His comment was meant to assure his constituents that he wasn't campaigning ("asking for their votes); he was there to listen, lead, and provide comfort.
Second, Mayor Buttigieg has the support of many of people of color in South Bend; they re-elected him by a greater number than had initially voted for him. And at least one African-American South Bend city council member supports him enough that she is serving as a surrogate for his Presidential campaign.
So stop with the distortions and low-info claims. If you support another candidate, fine; but don't lie about the other candidates; that will not serve us in the general election, and it's unfair.
5
Sadly, the old farts in power we have experience of late have not exactly excelled or demonstrated competence. Too many are using age as a proxy for wisdom. Not unlike many voters used the fact that Trump was a purported "businessman" as a proxy for being able to manage a large organization. Mayor Pete has demonstrated the ability to be and operate intelligently, not be stuck on simply sound bite talking points, and not be bullied into a position that appears to be the flavor of the month, or which has gained momentum in the press or with the more extreme or loudest voices du jour. That is an important demonstration of stability and being responsible. Unfortunately, the sound bite mentality is what sells, and the press can't condense an intelligent paragraph into a chryon for online or onscreen consumption. And should any other - especially older - candidate get the nod, Mayor Pete should be added to the ticket as VP candidate, to be positioned for a longer term run and one with that additional experience behind him.
4
He's not too young. He's too Gay. The religious right and ultra conservatives everywhere will, in the quiet of the voting booth let animosity and fear compel them to vote for Trump even knowing what he is.
1
@Ivan W then remind them what their savior would have them do...if you can’t actually be a real Christian then pretend...you can still do the right thing as long as you understand what hypocrite means.
1
@Ivan W
The religious right and ultra-conservatives have no problem with Trump. They love him. And they'd rather die than vote for ANY Democrat, gay or straight.
4
His intelligence, decency, education and poise make him the best pick of the pack. His age is a plus, in my view. I am 76 and recognize this nation's leadership needs someone with solid moral character, sound judgment and a fresh outlook. His sexual orientation is irrelevant. So let's replace the old and clearly crazy donald trump with someone who is smart, wise and decent.
10
Mr. Bruni's premise that this candidate's age is a political liability is an insult to the reader's intelligence. Pete Buttigieg plays the age card constantly. It's a SELLING point of his. (One of few, imo.) This kind of pretense, fakery or whatever you call it, is getting so tiresome.
5
Buttigieg failed the courage test when he fired his black police chief under pressure from his white donors and then didn’t even have the courage to look the guy in the eye and tell him personally but sent someone else to do his dirty work for him. A wimp like that could never stand up to Putin.
4
@Edward
Or McConnell.
1
A boomer myself, from the 1946 group, I find it's not the age, but the very youthful appearance of Pete Buttigieg that brings me up short.
I have to remind myself that he has so much more experience running a political unit than our current President; has much more military experience; and seems interested in putting the voter first. John Kennedy was 43 and a WW II vet. Pete B just isn't quite there yet as a potential President.
Non-politician Bloomberg is putting his personal achievements out there in ads, spending his own money, having put a great deal of that money towards helping others. He is a few years older than the first of the boomers. Perhaps he should start put out feelers for a VP running mate, younger, but with experience in government. It could very well be a winning combination.
It would give Pete B a four-year crash course in government at the federal level, exposure to all Americans and a chance to get a few facial lines and grey hairs. Unless he screws up horribly, he would be a very viable candidate in 2024.
1
I vaguely recall us electing a president who was 47, had never run anything, whose principal claim to fame was one speech and one book, and whose political experience consisted of a few inconsequential terms in a state legislature, where he often voted "present" on tough issues and two years in the U.S. Senate.
If you liked that president, Pete's your guy. Just as "brilliant" and more hands-on government and management experience by inauguration day.
Of course, if you were not an admirer of that previous administration you are likely to hold your nose and vote for the current incumbent.
3
Alexander the Great , William Shakespeare, U.S. Grant ,and Albert Einstein first demonstrated their extraordinary talent in their late 30s and early 40s.
Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and John Kennedy were in their 40s. If nothing else, great success or failure of the young or the old or frail (FDR and Reagan) belies the claim that age alone can predict a presidential candidates performance in office. Natural talent, education, life experience, and ambition to succeed are, by far, the better predictors of success.
7
I found it instructive to look up Theodore Roosevelt's (hitherto the youngest president of the United States at 42) biography. True, there were more roles he filled than Pete Buttigieg has, but they were almost all for one year or so. And yet, he is considered one of the better, if not one of the best, Presidents we've ever had. The thinness or thickness of one's resume is not necessarily an indicator of anything.
8
He was Mayor of a very large city, Governor of NY State, and became President initially because President McKinley was assassinated.
@mtgroob
Teddy fought the oligarchs in his gilded era. Buttigieg will do no such thing in this one. In fact, he's out there asking them for campaign donations.
2
I'm in favor of focusing more attention on Buttigieg's policy ideas and governing approach than on his generation and relative youth. I recently saw a brief campaign video on his healthcare plan, and it left me very skeptical that the proposal could solve the massive inequalities in American healthcare. Many health policy experts argue for incremental reform as the best route to a single payor system, and given the amount of political resistance to reforming the industry, they have a point. The Buttigieg plan, though, looked likely to entrench another version of our multitiered, overpriced and opaque system, rather than lead to comprehensive universal coverage. He'll need to provide more convincing details on this subject to earn my support.
4
@Maggie Mae
All of his policies are designed to give the appearance of progress in order to win votes, but the real goal is to not scare off the corporate donors. We don't need that kind of president.
6
While I do not agree with all of his positions, his age should have nothing to do with it. The leaders of the businesses that shape the world economy and the future are much younger than in the past. They need people they can talk to at their level. Furthermore, Mayor Pete is right to say that "the older generation has had their chance". They have failed miserably and put us in this mess. They are primarily looking out for themselves at the expense of the sandwich generation. Time to change the narrative with the people who have actually served this country by more than padding their wallets in congress and using bankruptcy.
9
@CA Dreamer
Young voters aren't buying it, which is why only 2% of them support him. They see right through him. He represents more of the same ineffective, middle of the road half-measures that got us here.
6
@CA Dreamer
If that quote is accurate -- if Mayor Pete used an inch-deep social media trope to dismiss a segment of the public, it doesn't speak well for campaign strategy or his leadership style.
2
Yes. In a word, yes. I’m contemplating thought patterns of people in their 30s, it strikes me that when I look back to major life decisions that. I made at that point, I was still young enough to be somewhat cavalier about events where this was utterly inappropriate. At 37 I had to make the decision about whether to pursue further treatment for my father following a davastating stroke, which took his life. Even if the chance was small that surgery could have relieved the pressure from blood that leaked into his brain, the fact is that it wasn’t that many years afterwards that I realized that with more life experience, I would have questioned more than I did. The doctor in charge was the son of my father’s prior doctor, having been friends with the latter since youth. And in looking back, I realized the doctor’s emotional involvement with my father, having known since birth, and his father’s responses were both colored by their personal relationship with him. In my early 40s, I would have solicited the advice of at least one or two other doctors. And I likely would have agreed to the survey to try to relief pressure on his brain by releasing the blood pooled there. There was nothing to lose. And it turned out only several years later that studies were showing this surgery to have a good success rate. My choices were those of a 37 year old.a 43 year old me had a more mature view on life, with far less need to prove exactly that. At 43, my decision making process had matured.
1
The more appropriate title of this article should be:
Are Trump, Biden and Bernie TOO OLD to run? Should POTUS Candidates be required to release their complete health records including a mental health examination by Psychiatrists?
13
It’s not age, it’s utter lack of experience that is a gaping hole on Buttegeig’s resume. His city is the country’s 313th largest — which is somewhat meaningless in the experience category. Cory Booker made a name for himself as mayor of Newark, NJ, a city rife with many very serious problems, a city much, much larger than “Mayor” Pete’s. He has been a Senator for years since. Bernie Sanders was a very popular and successful Mayor of Burlington VT, before embarking on decades in Congress and the Senate. Sure he seems smart, but it’s frightening that he is so loudly confident of his skill over others, without having experience beyond his small town where he won with a total of 6000 votes. Yes, that’s total votes, not the margin of victory.
11
Age is certainly not irrelevant, however if a 37 year-old candidate is wise beyond his years then it's a non-issue. I think we should all have issue though with a 73 year-old with the maturity of a 12 year-old occupying the Oval Office.
15
trump has plenty of "wisdom" if leveraging anger and grievance counts as wisdom; as do Warren and Sanders, but they aren't as "wise" as trump in that regard.
No, Buttigieg is not too young to be president- the job requires, above all else, judgment and, while age can hone judgment, in general it is something you are born with or you aren't. I think Buttigieg may have the best judgment of any of the Democratic candidates. The real question is can he win and the answer is no. If I were Buttigieg I would see the handwriting on the wall and drop out soon. No unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president in 2020 will be given another chance at the nomination and he might, in the right circumstances, have a real chance to win- those right circumstances however are not the present ones.
Age should not be disqualifying but was Buttigieg actually comparing himself to Alexander Hamilton? Whoa! Moreover, I would argue that twenty-something person in the late 18th century is the equivalent to a 40-ish person now.
Also, this idea that we valuing the future is "our thing" may apply to money, tech, arms, and general consumption but it's debatable as to whether this applies to our social structures. A lot of us are still fighting the Civil War, for Pete's (no pun intended) sake.
It's funny: all the other Dem candidate register a reaction with me, even if it's just mild bemusement; for this guy, absolutely nothing.
3
There is a great deal of head scratching about how someone Buttigieg's age can show such grace, wisdom, and forethought. The answer is simple: Buttigieg is gifted (please hear me out before you shout, "Elitist!"). Like all people with gifted IQs (over 132), he demonstrates asynchronous development. This simply means that while he is one age chronologically, he is another intellectually, and still another emotionally. Buttigieg seems so much older than his years because he thinks about and processes information in the ways that someone much older would. He also has the emotional maturity of someone older. This is quite common among the gifted and talented. However, it is also why he is an enigma to many. So please don't rule him out. He sees things holistically (all parts are worth equal consideration). I’m in for Mayor Pete for president in 2020. He is, as Bruni says, quite extraordinary.
17
@Alex
Obama and Clinton were also highly intelligent presidents, and both were ineffective at fighting the greed and corruption that is at the root of our problems as a country and a planet. Both were capitulators to corporate interests.
All of our candidates are intelligent people. I'll be voting for the one who will most effectively fight the power, and that sure ain't Pete.
4
Age, implying experience, and the presidency is irrelevant. Who becomes President with experience in being president? Only an incumbent. I want a person whose life experience demonstrates the characteristics of what I think make for a President. In today's world that starts with Decency, affection for Truth, someone who respects Expertise, articulates a clear and inspiring Vision, and has successfully built consensus through inspiration and compromise.
Does Mayor Pete fit the bill? We shall see through the Primary process won't we.
1
I like Pete Buttigieg, but he needs more seasoning. It's not a question of age, it's a question of experience. Bruni points to Buttigieg's executive experience as mayor of South Bend, but that is simply too small a stage (Donald Trump pointed to his "executive experience" running a business and we see where that got us).
The president has to operate on a broad national scale, and, more importantly, on an international scale. This is where someone who has experience dealing with national and international issues, even if only as a legislator, has valuable experience which Mayor Pete does not.
2
I am well beyond 70 and would welcome Mayor Pete as our next president. First, he is intelligent, a one-eighty from what we have now. Second, he is youthful enough to understand our youth are facing a frightening geo-political and environmental future, in contrast to what we have now, who cares only about himself. Third, Mayor Pete showed the courage to take up arms on the sands of Afghanistan in contrast to what we have now, who bought fake bone spurs to dodge service. Fourth, President B. would represent all hard working Americans irrespective of color. That should be obvious to everyone.
11
I’m more concerned with character and judgment than age. Authenticity is essential. My problem with Pete is that his beliefs and policies have changed as he’s been embraced by the Democratic establishment and corporate donors. That happened with President Obama, who campaigned on a progressive platform but governed as a neoliberal, bailing out banks but forgetting working people who lost everything in the “downturn.” Pete won’t be the nominee but the DNC needs to do some soul-searching and come to grips with why it lost in 2016.
6
Yes. You actually have to have a fully fused neural tube to run.
I mean, seriously: he's been the mayor of a small city. That's it. Please.
5
@Doug Tarnopol More governing experience than donnie, though.
1
The question should be how did a person whose chronological age of 73 and mental/emotional age of 5 get elected?
9
@nzierler
His savior in the form of Vladimir Putin physically stole the votes between the two states of Michigan and Pennsylvania, that is how he was corruptly elected.
1
Why complain about Buttigieg's imperfect résumé when he is overwhelmingly less flawed than the current excuse for a president?
9
I would love to see Buttigieg win the Primary and the Presidency because I don't doubt his intellect, credibility or capability. His age has nothing to do with it. But I sure doubt his electability. He has no national name-recognition. He will not get the African-American, 18-24 years, the baby boomer and cross-over votes. Oh! There's the McKinsey problem which will be magnified many times over in the national elections. The Republicans will make sure of that. This is a huge swath of Democratic votes and some sitting on-the-fence Republican votes. And let's be honest. America is not yet ready for a gay President. Heck, we are not even ready for a woman President. Let's get real. Bottom line we need a Democrat who can win and beat Trump. That should be the primary goal even if it means choosing somebody in their 70's.
6
Guess what? He will never be president, young or old.
1
Not too young, a little too unaware of how white, male and privileged he is.
4
@Karolyn Schalk Nope; Mayor Pete has actually talked a lot about his white, male privilege, and spoken about it quite thoughtfully. He's also talked about how being gay has given him the perspective of being decidedly not privileged, in the eyes of society and the law. All of his comments, interviews, talks, are available online, if you are interested in more information for forming your opinions
1
Pete is just too Indiana. All the white male local politicians in Indiana think they have the right to be president -- Richard Lugar, Dan Quayle, Mike Pence, Pete. Indiana is home of the KKK. It has the most partisanship of any state I've worked in. It is just too white bread. Maybe he can do well in Iowa or New Hampshire, but it's going to take black and hispanic voters in Georgia, Florida and Texas to win for Democrats.
2
I live in a town roughly the size of South Bend. My mayor is young, but he hasn’t any screwups on his resume. Buttigieg is not known for any particular success in South Bend that I know of, but he is known for having mishandled a racially charged incident. That can’t be said of my mayor, plus he is a Latino veteran. Of course, he isn’t an east coast, Ivey League, Rhodes scholar who landed a a sinecure at Mckinzey. Maybe that is why everyone one thinks Buttigieg would be so great: not his experience but his pedigree. If my mayor ran for president, would anyone look at him twice? Of course not. Buttigieg is being showered with inexplicably large corporate funds because Obama picked him out of of the firmament and started dropping his name a year or two ago. Buttigieg is a savvy inside player. Of course, I would vote for him against Trump, but his phony, meditative, outsider insincerity doesn’t fool me for one moment. He knows exactly whovhe has to please and it is not you. It is the DCC. Don’t think for a minute you picked him. Barack Obama and the Democratic Party machinery pushed him out there as one of several foils to the progressive candidates who make them apoplectic. And don’t tell me being a closeted gay man your entire life until it became acceptable to reveal it is anything like what Black’s and Latinos suffer from birth. He has had a very soft ride to the top and has not demonstrated any governmental success. Pete, go run for Congress and come back later.
5
@Robert And don't forget the huge assist by Frank Bruni of the NY Times who began talking him up a long time ago.
1
I am not a fan of quoting from the article just read but to me this says everything you need to know about Pete Buttigieg.
“We’re talking about a role of unbelievable importance and complexity and challenge. And yet every person who’s done it has been a mortal, a human being — and of course so much depends not just on the individual but on how you build a team.”
He not only acknowledges the challenges of the position but concludes with what matters most-building a team.
8
Right now the Democratic Party lacks a charismatic candidate who exudes energy, real leadership and toughness to counter Trump. We know that, and as Frank Bruni points out, we may never have that person, so we need to rally around who comes closest to this, even possibly Buttigieg. I know one thing, I am not at all a fan of Berni or the older set, and I am a Boomer. It is time for fresh perspectives, but also someone who knows how to tap into the mindset of swing voters, the young, and ethnically diverse. Trump's base is a lost cause, no matter who the Dems support. It's tricky, but not impossible to find that person who strikes a good balance between the ideological and practical.
6
I'm 70 years old. When I was 37, I was near my best mentally, physically, and emotionally. As a research scientist, I had some of my most innovative inventions. I, too, was seen as arrogant, because I wanted the toughest projects. To compare Buttigieg to Trump is absurd, because the ONLY thing Trump is is older. Mayor Pete has clearly had the best answers in all of the debates, without sounding like an argumentative uncle or a mother-in-law that thinks she's always right. I'd certainly give him a fair chance.
20
Why focus on age when what really matters is decency, compassion, fairness and intelligence? Age is a non-issue. We have these qualities in Mayor Pete.
13
@Gary ...Oh, and Pete can read and comprehend stuff. He would be able to plow through the presidential daily briefing without needing pictures. He speaks several languages and learned one just so he could read a book. What we have now in the Oval Office is still trying to learn one language.
8
Pete is NOT too young at all. The greatest poem about America was written by Walt Whitman when he was 37. Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize at 35. Pete is the wisest, most well researched, most educated, most visionary of the entire field. He is like a brilliant young conductor who knows all the sections of the orchestra - knows how to listen and understands the rhythm of this evolution America has been straining to return to. Pete is like a holistic doctor who knows the condition that needs attention and remedies. He also knows that America is not just a business - it needs also to be a unified consciousness and emotion. When he cites a crisis of belonging in America he has zeroed in on the core psychic toxin from which most symptoms arise. He has a brighter more elegant operating system than all of his competitors. Pete is the way forward in every way.
20
I think there are many 37 year old who are who would be thrilled with Pete's "short" resume. He is accomplished in more ways than most people even think of. I have read through the comments today and the ayes have it, easily and hands down. A lot of the negative stuff, while some of it may be true, is not off putting for the adults in the room who know that life, even one as well lived as Buttigieg, may and will have its critics.
11
I agree with the assessment that Buttigieg's age should not be a deal breaker. That said, the Constitution mandated age of at least 35 years of age to become President was written at a time when a male reaching the age of fifty was an achievement. Thirty-five years of age at the time would probably be the equivalent of fifty five today.
3
It's not his age that bothers me (I am a Tulsi Gabbard supporter)- it's his character. He is the one Democratic candidate I could not vote for.
2
@Peggy
And that is your right, so do not vote for him, but also do not slam those of us who will.
4
@Peggy
Tulsi is the one "Democratic" candidate I could not vote for.
The NYT listed some of the reasons in its article about her two months ago.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/us/politics/tulsi-gabbard.html
2
@Peggy OK, so he's your least favorite. Would you vote for trump instead, or stay home? You must not think that another trump presidency poses the threat that many think it does.
3
We need to elect a leader who will build a strong team of ethical and competent people around her/him. As Americans, we argue about nearly everything. First and foremost, we collectively need to vote for candidates who would actually take the oath I took when I enlisted seriously - support and defend the Constitution. If the voters of this country fail to do that, nothing else will matter. If we do succeed in that endeavor, we need to remember we are not done; we need to stay engaged.
If Mayor Pete wins the democratic nomination, then he deserves our full support as does any candidate who will defend our rule of law republic. I agree with many who have commented, he would be far and away a better President than the current bully and conman occupying the bully pulpit.
7
His youth is part of his advantage.
For all their “wisdom”, the old folks are showing us, in their behavior (Biden, trump) and their lack of basic logic about what’s doable (warren, trump, sanders) that age can also prove you’re not suitable.
PETE believes the system is based on compromise or nothing gets done.
Except for Biden, the others cannot spell compromise and sport a career of getting nothing done.
Pete, suit up.
We’re going young.
6
Considering that we have a 73 year old disaster of a president, considering that we have a GOP made up of young and old clowns, I'd say that age is irrelevant.
13
Buttigieg is the most thoughtful and mature candidate on the debate stage.
15
Buttigieg is worth a studied review from a different set of criteria than are too simplistically and too easily touted as winning metrics.
If Trump is the symptom of a minority that's gone reactionary rogue, his opponent needs to be more than the flu shot to cure Trumpnarcissitosis.
The person on the ballot must have the skills to combat simplistic conflation, bombastic slander, stereotypical ranting and junkyard Republican attack dogs.
What characteristics and qualities will offer the best armor to deflect the biting bitterness that will show itself in the economic ego-maniacal election next year?
Will someone with policy carrots keep the rage at bay? I don't think so.
Will someone who offers free armor to other defenders? I don't think so.
Will someone who's been fighting the same dogs for years? I have my doubts.
Will someone who learned fighting in the kennel of politics?
I doubt it.
Will someone so scarred that they are no longer nimble? I don't think so.
Will someone who understands & uses composites, new weapons and inventive, intelligent maneuvers? Yes. This is the person to throw into the ring with PT Barnum and his circus actors.
Of the few in the arena who've chosen to become candidates, Mayor Pete still has the necessary qualities, sparring expertise and proven integrity to be the ring master to beat the man, challenge the belligerence and overcome the rage.
4
EASY ANSWER of retired lawyer, older than Biden-younger than Sanders, w three kids-youngest forty-eight, on the never-applicable assumption all things being equal, but "sufficiently" equal: too young.
HARD ANSWER: just how insufficient do/does the codger(s) have to be before Mayor Pete becomes possessed of the requisite "wisdom, age and grace."
2
@Jethro Pen
Footnote: was too young, at 19, to vote in 1960, but would have voted for Nixon, not because of qualifications, but JFK's youth, brashness, presumptuousness and absence of them.
Voted for Obama in 2008, on the basis of the opposite of brashness and presumption, aware that he was really too short on experience, but believing his potential to be great. Never regretted that vote.
2
Any argument that our present government, primarily of rich white old men, is anything like ideal is nonsense. Similar nonsense is any argument that being rich, white, and old makes one a better candidate. If anything RWO candidates are up to their necks in the swamp of the status quo and the rear view mirror. "Old" means doing the same old thing exceptionally well. The world doesn't need "the same old thing."
To a person in a completely bipartisan sense, our RWO government is focused on keeping their jobs much more so than attending to their oath of office.
I'm 73 and I'll vote for a Democrat that can defeat Donald Trump, regardless of anything else. I would love more than anything for that person to be Mayor Pete.
Let's remember. A big factor in election of Donald Trump was that he would provide a fresh face in Washington and "shake things up." (He didn't. He's breeding bigger and stronger alligators.) But in that sense a young blue collar mayor may fit right in with the legacy of youthful accomplishments going back to our forefathers.
5
Buttigieg is a professional politician looking for a promotion. As in any profession, a major question is "How did he do in his last job?" In Buttigrig's case the answer is "mediocre." Case closed.
4
@Forrest Chisman
It's a bit like a low level manager asking to be CEO, isn't it?
3
We never learn. The Presidency is not about words, that is the currency of advisors. Obama failed dramatically, giving us the Arab Spring and the death of Libya and all radicalization that followed. He pushed for a Euro gas deal and having it rejected, led to the overthrow of an elected President in Ukraine. That polarized the Russians, brought anti -semitism to the fore ( yes 72% of Ukraine thinks Jews have too much power)
Smart is not the issue, advisor are smart. Experience and comfort with power are essential. The Major's age is not the issue but it does show how young people can lose perspective "I can do this" , is hardly evidence. Churchill held essentially all portfolio's in British government over 30 years before he led the country. The Mayor has not even been successful on a State wide basis in Indiana. Let's sober up on this .
Pete is an imagined candidate were the world as we would wish. The Democrats needed Jim Webb but Hiliary took care of him.
1
Well thought out piece. Yet why no mention of Cory Booker, who would seem to have it all?
4
Buttigieg is smart enough and humble enough and lacking in hubris to put real talent around him. I have no problem with his age.
5
It should be Tulsi Gabbord and Andrew Yang ticket. I will vote for nothing else. Buteugeig is too young, Warren is shrill like Hillary, Sanders will bring us breadlibes and gulags, Biden thinks young people still listen to record players... Regular working class Americans want $1000 a month Yang will deliver. People who oppose that should reflect on their bourgeois privlege.
2
@CJT All of us are entitled to have a favorite candidate. Please reconsider your thought of "I will vote for nothing else." If many Democrats do that, I am afraid that would help Trump's reelection. Compared to Trump and another term, we need to support any Democratic presidential candidate, as well as House and Senate candidates. With majority control in each we can pass laws that can prevent a similar nightmare experience in the future: campaign finance law, mandatory disclosure of presidential tax returns etc.
2
Tulsi isn’t a Democrat.
@Nancy I agree with the poster. What does it matter if we beat donald trump if we continue to perpetuate the same failed crony capitalist policies? My generation is screwed if we elect another pro-lobbyist. And we need a Potus who will help us not score political wins with sanctimony. Legislation is dead due to hyper-partisanship, we need a fixer not a finger-pointer or wall street crony. This dem is done with the DNCs hypocrisy. I support Tulsi/bernie/yang only. I held my nose and voted for Clinton but the DNC has done everything possible to turn me into a disaffected liberal.
3
This boomer has yet to hear anything coming from Mayor Pete’s mouth that doesn’t make perfect common sense. He is wise beyond his years. If he is the Democratic nominee, he will have my vote. For that matter, so will a ham sandwich if that is the party’s choice to beat Trump.
10
To answer the headline...No. Nor is he too young to attract voters.
2
Were you stronger and more able at 37 than you are today?
There’s your answer.
This is the silliest debate I’ve heard, and is part and parcel of the same dumb questions about his sexual orientation.
We want the brightest, best person for the job. He’s it.
It’s not about gender or his favorite flavor of ice cream. How about taking the election seriously, for a change, rather than as a gossip dating show? We might even win.
7
I’m done with old white men. They had their chance and blew it. I’ll vote for anyone who does not fit into that category.
4
Over 2000 years later, millions of people still follow a guy who was crucified when he was younger than Mr. Buttigieg is now. Just sayin'.
7
No he’s not too young what silly question. Pete has more intellect, more maturity, more compassion, more real world experience in crisis management and understanding of military and foreign policy than the current fake POTUS does in one cell of his demented pinky. He would bring in expert policy advisors and actually VET his cabinet and not hire Fox TV losers. He would spend his nights reading NSC briefing books and studying not talking to Hannity. What a joke get real.
6
The U.S. Presidency is the biggest, most important job in the world, though it’s occupant is not prima facile the best human in the world.
No prior job, no prior work is sufficient preparation for President. None.
That said, running a years long successful campaign for President is the nearest approximation of the job itself. So, whether it is Pete or someone else, if they defeat Trump they will have demonstrated the capabilities to do the job, which include stamina, organization skills, and public presentation among other things. They will have a “story “ to provide initial support.
If Pete wins the nomination and then wins the election he will be as prepared as anyone can reasonably be for all the learning he or anyone else will have to undergo.
When we limited Presidents to two terms we implicitly traded the benefits of Presidential experience for the benefits of fresh slate thinking. Otherwise we would have our own version of the Evo Morales issue. We choose messiness over a Potemkin stability
2
I would dispute your statement that America today is "much, much more complicated than it was during the Revolutionary War."
The Founders, many of whom were younger than the Mayor, had to create a brand new nation starting from scratch, devising an entirely new style of government that had never been tried before. They had to pull together disparate states that were then just as inclined to go to war with one another, with no currency, no banks and no highways. All this while under the control of the world's most powerful empire and under bombardment by the world's strongest navy, and while thousands of citizens were dying of yellow fever.
Running today's nation is child's play in comparison. In fact, we now have proof that any fool can do it.
4
I love the fact that we a lot of candidates with different viewpoints to choose from. I am still undecided, but I feel that we need to come together as a party and nominate who exemplifies the values that have made this country great over the years (before 2016).
As an aging boomer, I agree with most things that the younger generation has to offer. They are our future. I am convinced that they will do the right things about addressing climate change, income inequality, ensuring everyone has health insurance, investing in infrastructure, improving our educational system, providing an affordable education or training program for all who want it, and promoting equality for everyone, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. I wish that more of my generation would realize that were are in the 21st Century.
Age is definitely an issue with a president who wants to turn back the clock to the "bad old days," who tweets insults daily, many of which target women and people of color, who tolerates the white nationalist movement which has gained strength during his time in office, and has used the office to benefit his family and his corrupt business.
I will vote for the candidate who provides the best path forward, regardless of their age.
4
We keep picking the wrong metrics.
Trump's age certainly doesn't speak well for relying on age as a measure of intelligence or useful experience.
The racial mix of city employees should be less important than their performance on the job.
And, as a boomer myself, I'm well aware that age can sometimes lock us into positions or beliefs that we need to abandon in the face of a changing world. Obama proved to us the value of a smart man surrounding himself with advisors who were even smarter. In a different world, so did Lincoln.
There are no perfect candidates, and Democrats should stop looking for that, and stop trying to drive wedges into cracks.
Most productive metrics: Who will do the best job? Who will defeat Trump?
6
The better question is...are Trump, Biden, Sanders, Warren to old to be president? Mayor Pete has so much maturity and intelligence it would be a great change from what we have at the present.
4
I'm a 62 year old boomer, and I've been following Mayor Pete's campaign from the beginning. He is my first choice, and I will vote for Mayor Pete for all the good reasons many people have eloquently mentioned in these comments. What I can't figure out are some of the fanatical Bernie/Warren/Yang supporters whose vitriolic dislike of Pete has many of them protesting him, saying they will not vote for Pete if he is the nominee, or not even vote at all. They are the purists, who if they don't get 100% of what they want, pout and say everyone else is a sell-out. If Mayor Pete is not the nominee, I will vote for ANY of the other candidates the Democrats nominate against Trump. If you can't say the same about Mayor Pete, then you deserve everything you get with another 4 years of Trump.
12
Vote blue no matter who!!
4
Age, as long is one is old enough to qualify for the office, should be irrelevant. Other factors, that may or not be affected by age, for example, mental acuity, physical health and stamina, experience and emotional maturity, are not irrelevant. Pete Buttigieg should not be disqualified by his age but by his opportunism, lack of experience and transparency, elitism and Republican politics. A lot of Americans are more than tired of identity politics. We don't need more Republican-lite candidates running on identity politics to distract us from the issues that affect us.
2
Every time I wonder if Pete is too young and think he might be somewhat limited in experience, he ends up convincing me that he more than makes up for those deficits in terms of maturity, thoughtfulness, and intelligence.
8
Wisdom from age is a legitimate consideration. However, as President Trump makes clear to many Americans, we search for a decision maker who is basically good; a person with vision, empathy, strength under pressure, and diplomacy when necessary. Age does not apply when American seeks a reasonable mind.
3
Buttigieg was a mayor. He has no experience working with legislators. We now have a president with no experience working with legislators. Plenty of bills are sitting in the Senate and the president has not called on McConnell to bring them to the floor for a vote. What will Buttigieg do differently to enact legislation?
4
Let's take a more serious look at the problem of being too old to be president. Unlike the other branches of government, the president must be on duty 24/7. For a good president 12 hour days will be routine, 16 hour days not unusual, and they must continue that program for years. People over or close to 80 simply do not have that kind of stamina. Young voters who fuss over whether it is time to put Grandma in a nursing home will still support Sanders AND THEY ARE THE SAME AGE. Listen to the 80-year-olds and don't support anyone over 70. I'm 83.
7
We like Mayor Pete because he's brainy and articulate, and doesn't lose his cool. Sounds a lot like our 44th president, right? But Buttigieg is not attracting as many younger voters as he should, and I suspect that's because he's not progressive enough for them. Amazingly, the Millennials are drawn to the eldest candidate, Bernie Sanders, whose vision of America is steadfast. As we continue to have political discussions, and as the primaries narrow our choices, let's remember to take the Indivisible Pledge: Vote Blue No Matter Who.
3
@Theresa K
The millennials need to get off their high horse and their phones and get with the program. Mayor Pete is flat out the real deal, and the one candidate who will demolish Trump. The debates between the two will be almost unbearable to watch, because Mr. Buttigieg is one very smart and articulate individual, and is not frightened by the President or the Republican Party.
3
There are legitimate reasons for the support Sanders has from the younger citizens of this country that were ignored by the Democrats in the last elections. For decades the status quo has remained the same despite the party. The youth experienced the loss of jobs, stagnant salaries and the soaring cost of living their families experienced. The loss of equity, bankruptcies in 2008, those who caused the collapse unpunished, was a pivitol point in our history that is ignored by those who claim the economy is booming or are too careful in the need for change. At present those who matured during that devastation are observing their parents caught between caring for aging Grandparents while facing an unstable future as their own retirement approaches. Despite that economic pressure their parents are also helping them to achieve a stable future. The youth foresee that same cycle for their own lives and embrace progressive ideals rather than what is an old school Republican in Buttigieg. If a candidates expectations are lower, the compromise needed to achieve those goals will be watered down to the present. There is reason the partners in McKinsey are contributing to his campaign.
3
Mr. Bruni refers to the "success" of Mayor Buttigieg's campaign, referring his first place finishes on top of a few polls. That is functionally no kind of success at all, especially in a caucus state like Iowa. We should wait for the voting and caucusing to begin (still over a month away) before a judgement like that is passed.
4
@David Godinez great point. Caucus system requires 15% here in NV and I think it’s fair to say that the Sanders/Gabbard/Yang coalition are not going to give Pete their delegates/votes if they don’t hit the threshold.
1
No, he’s not too young; in fact, he consistently demonstrates greater maturity and wisdom than do many of the other candidates.
Electability concerns are likely fueled by recognition that homophobic attacks from the GOP/FOX/Alt-Right propaganda apparatus, combined with identity-politics-fueled rhetoric by hypocritical Democrats and “progressives” will prove fateful to his campaign.
Democrats could coalesce behind this brilliant, historically-literate military veteran, however they’re appear more likely to default to an inarticulate former VP well past his prime.
7
His age isn't the problem. Neither is his ambition - good luck finding a presidential candidate who isn't ambitious.
His problem is that he's: a) been on this track his entire adult life (starting in high school, when he was "most likely to become president") and has made every decision with that in mind. I knew a lot of guys (yeah, almost all guys) like that in law school, and none of them seemed to care about the real world outcomes of policies and ideas they supported -- just about how support for those policies made them look; and b) he seems to think that a stint at McKinsey is somehow a qualification to be president.
I don't have Matt Taibbi's gift for metaphors, but McKinsey is at least the leech-like cousin to Goldman Sachs' vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity jamming its blood funnel wherever it smells money. McKinsey never met a workforce that shouldn't be downsized, or a social safety net expenditure that couldn't be cut. Lately, they've been advising ICE to spend less on the refugees in detention. Choosing to work for them, when you can write your ticket coming back from a Rhodes Scholarship, indicates a set of values and a worldview that should be kept far from the Oval Office.
7
So what? He has thought about the issues that confront our nation for a very long time. I see nothing wrong in that.
He didn’t come from wealth. He certainly didn’t come from the idea that he was entitled to anything. He knows himself. He listens. He is quite intelligent. He has character. Those are the essential qualities that I look for in a president.
7
For me it's not the youth. It's the inexperience, the dearth of vetting, the lack of appeal to minorities and swing voters, the hubris, and the availability of candidates who have no such handicaps like Klobuchar and Booker.
The Fourth Estate, Frank Bruni in particular, have abdicated their responsibility in hyping as fit to be POTUS, an admittedly bright, young man whose sole qualifying credential thus far is the Mayoralty of a town which isn't even among the 300 largest in the nation.
9
@spodvoll Klobuchar appeals to minorities? That would be news to her campaign. And Biden, Bernie, and Warren are polling better among Black Democrats than Booker.
1
Right. “America is much, much bigger than Finland”. And we all know it’s being run by The Donald so you can stop pretending America is so exceptionally complex that it can only be run by a genius so extraordinary that it take 3 years to choose him. Or, some day, her. Of course Buttegeig’s age should not be disqualifying. Surely no one still labour’s under the misconception that old age=wisdom after watching Trump and Giuliani.
8
The wise man learns more from the fool than vice versa. But Trump believes old age and treachery will outwit youth and skill.
2
Age is indeed a problem. All septuagenarians at hand are totally unattractive: from the abjectly repugnant (Trump), via the boring has-beens (Biden) down to the old cranky extremists (Sanders, Warren).
The majority of the population are younger, much younger than the average age of these aged competitors for the top spot. In Trump, we saw that age plays no positive role. We look to the older generation (like me) to learn something, to get lessons of wisdom for our future lives. What can one get from Trump, honestly, other than how to cheat and bully your place in this world?
Time to go with the next generation. Mayor Pete is a possibility (not the only one but based on the current team the most practical one).
5
I haven't read any of these yet. But I will read them all. In point of fact, HE was 39 when he became President (after McKinsley's assassination). But I 'll give you 42 for his actual election.
Is that just semantics? I lose track in this era.
1
The only hope for our society is bringing on young people with a broader view of the world and a social conscious. Our politicians - old white men who look embalmed - are pathetic. The "squad of four" in Congress are young and bring fresh pov's, we need more of that.
Please. I applaud Mayor Pete and would be thrilled to have him on the Democratic.
5
I don’t care how talented Mayor Pete is, America is not going to elect a guy married to another guy. That is the elephant in the room that the media is desperately trying to ignore. African American, Hispanic and traditional voters will not. Sorry but he’s 10 years too early.
5
@Dennis V
As far as I'm concerned, he's 10 years too late. And by that, I mean his status-quo, Republican-lite politics.
2
Mr. Buttigieg will not be the candidate. Period. Too inexperienced, too unknown.
Media keeps flailing around for a Deomcratic candidate who can win.
So far, no cigar.
I'm still holding out for the re-emergence of Hillary Clinton, popular winner in 2016.
2
Apparently Trump failed to read the age related to wisdom memo ... he is proof positive that there are plenty of old folks who act like spoiled children. Give me a mature young president any day.
2
Bernie Sanders will not be the Democratic nominee if the Democrats have any remote sense of political reality. And the elephant in the room is that much has been made over Mayor Pete’s low numbers with black voters.
Sanders lost the black vote to Clinton and today he is in the same boat. Warren is ahead of Sanders for that reason.
When black voters see Buttigieg win Iowa he will win SC as well and maybe NH. I just hope the DNC doesn’t give Sanders another reason( justifiable last time ) to pout and shout again.
5
So Frank has adopted Pete
Fair
Unfortunately, everyone else on staff seems obsessed with Trump, or else with the Democratic field’s faults.
Would any other Times columnist be interested in adopting a woman? How about Cory or Juliàn?
Willing to pay $5 for a little diversity...
1
Yeah, too young....presumably because the old guys have done so well. Lol, the irony here is too much to take and really more an indication of yet another compromise to the simpletonian Idiocracy that defines our current existence.
2
Too immature, not too young. The number of calendar years he's accrued tell us nothing at all about Buttigieg's fundamental conformity and refusal to lead with courage. Tulsi Gabbard -- only one year older in calendrical terms -- is light years ahead of Buttigieg as a person of principled, independent vision.
2
If Mayor Pete's age is not a deal breaker, why did you spend the entire column presenting it that way?
Worrying shortcomings, indeed.
1
Nope. Not too young. I’ll take young, smart and brimming with integrity any day, over old, blathering and corrupt.
12
Ugh. Read the Washington Post's interview today with Pete and then tell me he's too young. After reading that, Pete's at the top of my list.
10
No, he’s not too young. He’s too neo-liberal.
4
Theoretically, Buttigieg is not too young. The problem is that he is too "new" to really have a track record, and you can see that behind him is a propaganda machine similar to what got Obama elected.
People who come out of nowhere who are tailored to appeal to social networking and polls, but with anonymous or large corporate donors trying to stay out of the light are just unacceptable to me ... and oddly enough there are more unknowns than ever in this election cycle. In such a scary time this is not the time to roll the dice and hope for boxcars.
3
@Bruce
Yes, in these times, we don't need another corporate product for a candidate, hiding his fundamental conservatism and elitism behind identity politics (in this case, age and sexual orientation). In every other sense, Buttigieg strikes me as a throw-back to the fifties.
2
The contrast between Buttigieg and Trump is just stunning.
When I hear or read Trump's screeching, attacking, hateful messages which do nothing but divide our citizenry, I feel depressed and sad for our country and the future of our grandchildren.
When Pete Buttigieg speaks, I feel a great sense of pride and hopefulness. His age is irrelevant. Buttigieg is an old soul...he's thoughtful, intelligence, honest and wise beyond his years.
Trump should go back to being a snake oil salesman.
Buttigieg should be leading our nation.
6
For Godssakes, we’ve gone from bad (Reagan) to worse (Bush II) to now worst. Someone completely new and different ( young, gay, smart ) would be something this nation could really use at this point in time. You can’t make anything great again if your ideas are so old they’re nearly extinct, or oughtta be...
3
Buttigieg disproves the notion of youth being creative and daring. He’s boring and predictable. No space suit for him. Just an old sweater and a pair of slippers. He belongs in a nursing home.
We've got a guy that spends his time watching TV, twittering, and playing cheating golf.
We have an adolescent as a President.
Maybe it is time for a young adult.
I'd vote Pete/Amy or Amy/Pete.
3
Some people think Mayor Pete is too young.
For me, his youth and vitality are features, not bugs.
And I believe he'd bring DIGNITY back to our national political life like nobody else currently running.
I'll support whomever the Democrats nominate. But yeah, I hope it's Buttigieg.
5
I'm 70. I remember arguing that the age of 18 gave us more opportunity than to go fight, kill and die in VietNam.
5
Just wondering how there can be a discussion about Pete’s lack of experience when we have a lout in the White House with ZERO political experience—and morals, and ethics and any other quality that one might want in a president.
5
Pete is a corporate shill and Trump will expose his hypocrisy. Besides, who said Trump would agree to debate him on stage? Pete does NOT inspire the younger generation and they certainly won’t be voting for him. Same goes for the Dems who defected to Trump. NYT and MSM constantly fawning over Pete is shameful when other candidates receive no positive press, or even press at all..
3
Pete is already a very accomplished man. We’d be extremely lucky as a country if he was the Democratic nominee for President. The contrast with old moronic Trump would be stark and plain.
5
A much better headline would have been: Pete Buttigieg is not too young to be president.
3
America need a young president and Pete Buttigieg is the man.
3
At least Mayor Pete's mental age is the same as his physical age. How well is the 5 year old brat in a 72 year old body working for you?
7
Blacks are key to Dem success and Black church goers are not warm to gay guys. Still I think he would do as VP to Biden.
1
@Michael
Perhaps Black church-goers should ask themselves whether Jesus would have loved Mr. Buttigieg and hated their stonewalling of him?
1
It's long past time that smart, informed, willing young men and women take the reins from old, set in their ways, and borderline mentally deficient like the current WH occupant. Age isn't the only qualifier for high office. Pete Buttigiege will fill all the gaping holes left behind after trump leaves. Hurray for youth. I'm 76.
5
@David Kannas
Mayor Pete is young, but his support isn't. At 76, you're his demographic.
1
Mr. Bruni has found yet another excuse to write a column about his very favorite candidate. And he's hoping that other Democrats will also be as enamored of the young man (did I mention that he's young?) from South Bend. Youth, ah youth: at last the Resistance has found the way to beat the old orange-haired man.
2
Spell check fail, obviously. Do love him dearly, but even I don't believe TR was HE....
America doesn’t need an inexperienced over privileged white boy leading it. The only thing unique about him is his gay identity but even that falls under the category of “straight looking, masculine-acting.” Acting.
1
As a gay man, Buttigieg needs to have a little more attitude and not be so blah. Why is he so afraid?
Pete Buttigieg is an ageist, nothing less.
2
For what is is worth, some of the oldest farts I know are in their 20's and 30's. I would take a spry thinker over a stodgy stick-in-the-mud any day. And I am not alone in this, given Sander's popularity. We need to consider the entire package, and that means avoiding ideas like someone is too young or too old.
3
Frank, stop waffling and get on board with Team Pete. We have a president now in office whose appalling behavior and immorality have made America a laughingstock, and yet you are not sure someone as exceptional as Mayor Pete can win against him? When will NYT columnists stop trying to bury the Democratic party in petty criticism and, in so doing, help to reelect the worst president in history?
3
I agree. Constantly sounds like the Democrats are eating their young. Republicans are united. If we don’t want another four years of Trump, we have to decide on the best possible candidate and unite behind that person. As it is, I fear a third party candidate, and I think that’s what Tulsi Gabbard has in mind.
Typical Bruni tripe. Casting the question on age which has no real issue in the election. There are other young candidates and by posing the question regarding age we ignore questions of substance.
Undoubtably Bruni's favorite candidate, a thinly veiled endorsement posed as a serious question.
Shame to the editors for letting this article be published..
6
Frank - the headlines of your Pete pieces imply the opposite of your content.
4
Mayor Pete has all the intellectual and emotional tools to be a great President---that is his problem. It appears that the public, not only in our country, grave leaders who are missing a number of these important tools---the more missing, the better. After all, you really only need the hammer.
4
Normally I would like to see a candidate with significant political experience, think LBJ, who can 'trade' with the opposition to advance good for this country. The problem today is that you can't negotiate with the Repub's, they are hell bent on winning not matter the cost. So first and foremost the Dem's will need to defeat Republicanism at every level and Mayor Pete is capable of trouncing Trump and the sycophants around him. If he is the nominee I will gladly support and vote for him.
3
Many of us are looking for a candidate who has spent a good portion of their life understanding what service to others means, and does it. Mr. Buttigieg’s qualifications, at thirty-nine years, appear lacking. It’s time for Bernie or Elizabeth.
3
I was enthusiastic about Pete until we attended a Town Hall in New Hampshire last week. He disappointed. The event, and Pete, was far more staged, preprogammed and, dare it be said, safe. Unlike the 10 other town halls attended in recent elections, he did not engage with the packed audience. His staff asked those waiting on line before the doors opened to submit questions to be selected from the "fishbowl." Pete came out, gave his spiel and then the moderator selected questions from the bowl. Were the questions pre-selected? Did Pete know the questions ahead of time? Never in all the campaign events attended has the candidate done this. Further, while Pete asked the questioner to ID themseves by raising their hand, he did not further engage as others would-like name, home, work, etc. He gave his perfunctory answer. He took only 5-6 questions. Left quickly. He was up on a stage, unlike the usual theatre in the round of most town halls. We came away let down and disappointed. He lacked any empathy or showed no empathy. It was quite odd. He is clearly brilliant, but very data driven and we left wondering whether he calculates in human emotion into decisions; the irrationality of how people feel and make decisions. Without doing so will hinder his ability to govern. His life has been charmed, in many ways. He needs deeper experiences and broader experience. Yet, of course, should he be the nominee, I will vote for him. The alternative of Agent Orange is too dreadful.
6
If Buttigieg is the nominee, I will vote for him. But he is my least favorite candidate. At my age, I have learned what (sad) experience teaches and I know the risks that naïveté cannot see, let alone manage. We are only now beginning to see the evils we suffered as a result of President Obama's inexperience. Please Democrats, not again.
4
Buttegieg losing his Father in January just as he was gearing up to run for President has been widely reported . His father was an esteemed and accomplished professor at Norte Dame who was an incredible role model for his son.
Pete is intellectually capable and certainly tough enough as evidenced by his military service, to handle the rigors of the Presidency. He has kindness and empathy and has been dedicated to public service . Age has nothing to do with these qualities.
He is the best person to correct the mess created by Donald Trump, age is irrelevant.
8
No one who has ever served a president of the United States came to the job with the experience needed to do the job. Some came with knowledge and/or skills, compassion and empathy, and an ability to convey themselves as leaders who garnered respect. They all came with baggage, number 45 so laden with the baggage of his ego, mastery of bullying and intense hatred of anyone who isn't a white male (well, except Kelly Conway and Ivanka) that he has made the United States a target of derision around the world. He has done so much harm to so many that I often wonder how, or if, this country will be able to fully recover.
Pete Buttigieg is knowledgeable, postured, wise beyond his years, aware, curious, respectful and tactful. And as he said, a president (except trump) does not lead alone. I like Bernie but he is too rigid and his ideas a bit extreme. Pete Buttigieg has what it takes to be the 46th President of the United States.
5
I don’t think Pete is too young but his blaze demeanor is - smart and benevolently snide - not the kind that bodes well with low-income groups or manual laborers. Finland is not diverse, and their laborers are not economically held hostage by health care, mortgage loans or student debt. We don’t want someone to outsmart us, but to be smart and hold the line with us!
8
USA is not New Zealand or Finland. It is a question of a person being vetted for the job for which he is applying. Experience?
3
What was Lincoln’s experience? A railroad lawyer, 1-term congressman, failed senatorial candidate and a few years as a state legislator.
What was Obama’s? A community organizer, state legislator and constitutional lawyer.
Buttigieg has proven himself as a mayor and served our nation in war. He has probably the most exhaustive educational background since Wilson.
What impresses me most about Buttigieg are his values, his faith, his intelligence, his wildness to admit when he is wrong and most of all, his ability to listen. Something that our current president is too busy talking to ever do.
2
@Steven Carter
Surely Mr. Carter, you must be kidding?
I find it hard to compare Mayor Pete to Lincoln and Obama. You may have heard of the Lincoln Douglas debates and Lincoln's Cooper Union address. Lincoln was the most distinguished leader of the anti slavery movement at the time. He was a brilliant lawyer and orator, much older than Pete is now. Obama was older than Pete and a brilliant orator and politician. Pete is none of these things.
He is my last choice. I really hate the idea that experience in a candidate doesn't seem to be important. Just because he has a good brain doesn't qualify him. Mayor of a city of 100,000 and he wasn't that impressive. Why would anyone think that he can successfully Shepard us out of this mess? And. If he was EXACTLY the same person, only a woman, we wouldn't have heard about him much. The 10,000 year old subconscious patriarchy is really digging in their heels here.
9
mayor of a city of 100,000 is bigger that running a senate office of 6. It is more than running a family office of a few dozen, which is what running Trump's branding operation really amounts to. it is as big a being governor of several states that have less than a million population.
2
@Irish he didn't do such a great job. Smart guy, needs experience and some maturity. Not the best candidate.
Every major Democratic candidate has a challenge both substantively and electorally.
Buttigieg's challenges: age (substance) and sexual orientation (electorally) are similar to Obama's: lack of experience and race.
Much like Obama had the best upside of all the candidates, so does Buttigieg.
I'm not against any of the front runners and would vote for a random person instead of the Mad King but, at the moment, Buttigieg, appears to me, asthe only one who could make a great President.
7
Is he too young to be preferable to the 56-inch mega-dump I just took that rounded the bowl three-and-a-half times, like soft iced-cream, breaking Svec's "unbeatable" record from Freshman year? No? Then he's not too young to be preferable to Trump.
I would vote for him--but not this election. Not so much his age but lack of Washington DC experience..which may be a tad more challenging now then at the dawn of American Independence...however --no doubt Mr. B would have found himself in agreeable company had he lived then.
I am coming around to Mayor Pete. I was worried that being gay would be his barrier. So it is so heartening that it is his age and not his sexual orientation that we are talking about more. It has been proven over and over again that people in their 30's do great things. Having the right partner is much more important.
1
Too young to be president? If we're going to factor in the age item I am more concerned with a person being too OLD to be president for all the obvious reasons plus a couple more.
When we critique a candidate who is over 70 who is running what are the questions the electorate generally asks? Is the person progressive in his/her thinking?
Is the person healthy enough to handle the stresses of being president (unless you are a social sociopath like Donald Trump whose major stressors are his Twitter feed outreach)?
Does the person have executive management experience?
Does the person know how government works and can s/he coalesce a cabinet of intelligent, forward-thinking individuals?
If we ask those questions of Pete Buttigieg and remove his age, all the answers are a resounding yes. So it's really not a question of is he too young to be president? It's more a question of how soon can he take office to undo all the damage Donald Trump has done to the country.
4
Not too young to be a Neoliberal who represents Wall Street and elites .Great for Status Quo lovers and disingenuous to the Max . Not too young - too opportunistic .
7
I’ve been a Republican all my life, but I’d vote for a Mike/Pete ticket in a heartbeat.
4
That is the trouble. They are not running in Rep primary.
8
@Art
Of course you would. Mike is an actual Republican, and Pete might as well be.
3
Thank you, Yulia. (Bernie is the only actual Democrat running. )
3
I’m not wholly sold on Pete... That said, worrying about his age seems silly. 37 is solidly middle aged and handily meets the Constitution’s arbitrary requirement. (Yes, your 30s and 40s are middle age; none of us alive today are likely to live to 120!)
3
Chronological age is by no means a true single test of someone's fitness or ability to do most tasks.
The current fraud we have in the White House should have grown up years ago, instead, he continues to act like the schoolyard bully taunting a teenager only a few years older than his own son.
6
Buttigieg is certainly not too young to be POTUS. I think a better argument can be made that the others- Biden, Warren, Sanders and Trump- are too old. Most people are retired or at least semi-retired in their 70s. He seems more mature, grounded and self possessed than most if not all of his older rivals. He is also smart as a whip, articulate and thoughtful. Why would we want to wait to have the benefit of his leadership?
5
Given the miscreant who currently occupies the office, a hamster that demonstrates intelligence and character would be a vast improvement. With sincere apologies to hamsters everywhere. We need a president to inspire us to our best attributes, not one who drives us to our lowest. And we need him or her now.
4
Bernie Sanders isn't ideologically pure. Sanders is ideologically consistent. He isn't pure. Democrats spent an entire primary explaining how Sanders isn't even a Democrat. Remember? The most pure candidate is Joe Biden. He represents traditional Democratic orthodoxy dating back to Bill Clinton and beyond. Not surprising since he was there. To borrow from Buttigieg's point, Biden is a "46er" style Democrat in conduct if not in year.
Buttigieg fails to acknowledge he's the second most ideologically pure candidate when you define "pure" as conventionally orthodox. He's a younger version of the same neoliberal thinking that brought us Barack Obama but also brought us Trump vis-à-vis Hillary Clinton.
Buttigieg also has a strike of GWB's compassionate conservatism running through him. He's an old school politician in a young person's body. That's why he's not polling well among young voters. That's probably also why black voters are mistrustful. Buttigieg sounds an awful lot like the same thing we've been hearing for the past 40 years. Just more articulate.
Personally, I don't care about his age or his experience. I think they create a nice contrast with Trump. Someone whose experience managed to bankrupt a casino. Someone who makes cultural references to out-of-print magazines from the 50s. Contrast is good. My problem is Buttigieg's politics. I don't want another neoliberal president. As Buttigieg points out, one generation has been in power for far too long.
6
Nobody is too old or too young to be President. His lack of experience is what worries me more. I do think he would make a great leader.
2
When Austan Goolsbee endorsed him it occurred to me that Buttigieg could staff his cabinet with Obama alumni, and they would have the experience and connections he lacks. He would then just need good judgment and a good heart, which he mostly seems to have.
I recently saw a clip of him refusing to explain why he won’t talk about who is financing his campaign, though, and that’s not only troubling; how can he imagine that response could be effective these days? Where was the insight and compassionate articulation then?
I won’t write him off yet for this or the concern being expressed about his relationship with African-Americans, but I want to see him address these things well in the coming weeks.
1
Trump has decades of experience — cheating, lying, swindling, molesting, coercing, faking, strong-arming, misleading, inflaming, corrupting and colluding. Mayor Pete has far less life experience, but the years he does have are marked by sound education, leadership, public services, an admirable background in the armed forces, and a genuine understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing this country. Age does not equate with wisdom: Mayor Pete is a far wiser man than Trump who, at more than twice his age, has clearly learned nothing in his deplorable marauding across the country. No one is perfect, but Mayor Pete is immeasurably more qualified to assume the presidency than Trump was in 2017.
3
Another day and another Times article seeking to take the legs out from under Buttigieg. Shouldn't we be more worried about the capacity of those in their 70s (Biden, Sanders, Warren..Trump) to handle the hardest job in the world? I also thought I would see the Times publish the recent Monmouth/Quinnipiac poll finding that every democratic candidate had a worse net unfavorable rating than Trump (with the exemption of Buttigieg who was the only politician to have an overall net favorable result).
2
Since 1960 (excluding the unique circumstances of 1964) Democrats have won the presidency with youth.
1
@lea
And what do we have to show for it? I don't care about demography. I care about results.
2
Not with a mayor of a small town
2
Alas, what may be a deal breaker for Mr. Buttigieg is not his age, but rather his dismal polling amongst Democratic voters of color.
5
No, he's not too young. He's too intelligent for the American public. Intelligence is not something that the masses appreciate.
Remember Adlai?
1
I like that Mayor Pete is a veteran. His age and sexual orientation are not issues to me. And anyone would be better than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
5
I've put my time, money and all of my energy to electing Pete Buttigieg as the next president of the United States. I changed parties. I am a white suburban "soccer mom". On paper, I should be a Trump supporter. I live in Trump country, Florida. But I cannot live in this America anymore with a President who rattles me and treats the office like the reality tv shows he is used to.
Pete not only has the gravitas, but as the youngest and least wealthy candidate, when I tell him we are spending $1700 a month on health care with a $6K deductible per family member, he actually gets what that means.
After hearing him speak for the first time, I finally understand how my parents felt about JFK, because growing up in the era of Nixon and now living with Trump, I never felt anything but mistrust for politicians. Not this time.
He's got no baggage and all the intelligence, both intellectually and emotionally. Watch how he handles protesters and detractors.
And for anyone who thinks he can't win, just remember that is what they said about Trump too. Don't try to predict what the American electorate will do. When the field clears and there are only 3 or 4 left standing, the contrast between Pete and the septuagenarians will be dramatic. He will inherit a mess of a divided country, and the other candidates are contributing to that. He has exactly what it will take to unite us. An inherent sense of justice and a love of his country.
#Pete2020
8
In the digital age, youth is a distinct advantage. It is increasingly more difficult for those in their 50, 60, and 70s to truly keep up. Processing and digesting information at fast speeds is for younger minds.( This is why there is a mandatory retirement age for pilots.) We currently have an analogue president with no depth of knowledge about anything of consequence, and no attention span. Maturity also matters. It is clear that Mayor Pete is mature beyond his years. He is a sharp contrast to the petty, foolish septuagenarian child who currently occupies the White House.
1
Age is just a number and there are people with lots of tough life experience before they reach age 18, but I’m not seeing that with Buttigieg. All signs point to him having lived a very sheltered life. His experience at McKinsey, as he describes it, seems pretty boring and privileged. His experience in the military, to my understanding, wasn’t spent on the front lines but instead was spent doing military analysis. The biggest criticism from his experience as mayor seems to stem from the fact that he never put himself in uncomfortable situations that would have given him a better understanding of the city’s black community. He’s gay, but has he ever faced the discrimination or backlash that others have seen? if he has, I haven’t heard those stories.
Buttigieg is very guarded, polished, and scripted. You’d never see him making the same gaffes as Biden. Biden has lived a long life working in a job where he had to make decisions on issues colored with lots of shades of gray. He overshares whereas Buttigieg undershares. The same week we saw a very emotional, raw response from Biden in response to a perceived attack on his family, we got a glimpse into Buttigieg’s first job, which probably helped to shape who he is now. In the end, it will come down to voters’ values and what’s most important to them in a president.
1
It's not his age, it's that he's not yet accomplished anything.
5
Call me confused but aren’t the Democrats trying to ousts Trump next year? How does a nothing mayor, who is despised by the African American community, who know him best, win a Presidential contest. And I mean his local community? And what votes is he going to steal away from Trump. The answer is zero. He’s run for a few higher seats and lost in Indiana. Why is he being taken seriously as a candidate? I’m at a loss and follow politics religiously.
6
At this point as an elder usually young looks good to me.
Buttigieg is too young and much too inexperienced to be considered for our Presidency.
Perhaps, being in the Senate for a term or two may be a road to further enlightenment for him?
3
The Founding Fathers decided that being 35 years old was the appropriate minimum age for the President. They set that age in the US Constitution. That is good enough for me.
2
He's not too young to siphon off votes from the candidate who wins the Democratic nomination. We're going to have several "Jill Stein" candidates that could deliver the White house to Trump again.
1
Constitution says 35, I'd make it 40. I'd also add a Political Science degree, a degree in Economics and some sort of elected office experience (Mayor, State Congressperson, or governor would do). We are waaay beyond 1779, when all you had to know was how to milk a cow and load a musket.
2
On the other hand, he’s one of the few candidates that I’m not seriously concerned will die or become cognitively incapacitated in office.
1
Buttigieg's age is somewhat of a red herring. It is not as if he is going to run the country by himself, as Trump seems to be trying to do. Much will depend on his advisors and who he appoints to his cabinet, an area where Trump has a rotten track record. He has military experience, something that neither Clinton, Obama, nor Trump has. He has lived abroad, which neither George W. Bush, nor Trump did. Intellectually and temperamentally, he is not surpassed by any of the current Democrats, except for perhaps Michael Bloomberg. He's already proved that he can organize a successful campaign. For the time being, I'm a fan. I just need to be convinced that he can beat Trump. I don't care about his age.
4
Not too young, Frank. Too ready to turn whichever way the wind is blowing. Maybe he'll be different when he loses some things, but he's too ready to please to be trusted.
8
There is something about going to war which negates "Life Experience," because in many cases it is the ultimate life experience, especially when you are the one responsible for the lives of others. A Rhodes Scholar. Articulate.
Will the world be a better place when the likes of Buttigieg , Malala, Greta Stunberg and the youth of March for our Lives are given a chance. I think so.
Our nation was founded by 20 somethings.
Our president, a mob boss lacks basic, fundamental leadership qualities. A phony from the get go. He's got the Senate in his pocket and the Justice Department, and two Associate Justices owe him big.
Time for a very big change.
3
Some of our nation’s most consequential leaders have been among our youngest. From Martin Luther King Jr., to Theodore Rosevelt to John F. Kennedy to. Barack Obama.
Georgia Bush Sr,. , Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon were among our older presidents . Enough said.
1
I don't think his age or experience mean anything to the American people or effect his electability. Our dear leader is over 70 with no experience a poor record and is a draft dodger and got elected. The leading Dem's are over 70 so what does it matter that he's under 40? I prefer him over warren and Bernie and joe. I believe this country needs a young person and a women president.
2
Re Buttigieg running against Trump next year, good job Frank Bruni! Donald Trump may not even run for re-election in 2020. John F. Kennedy at age 46 didn't run for re-election in 1964. There's still many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.
1
It’s not age. It’s electability. If Mayor Pete can’t get African-Americans out to vote for him, we’re stuck with another four years of Trump.
I’m afraid that age is just code for gay. We’ve come far enough in this country to shrink from openly disparaging gays; even Trump doesn’t seem to want to go there—yet. I may be ready for Mayor Pete, but I’m an “elite,” (rhymes with Pete). Moreover, I see is such hatred and envy for those of us with education and a decent income—mostly education—that I can’t see how he can win.
More than anything else, I’m not sure our democracy can survive until Buttigieg comes of age.
Mayor Pete isn't going to get black voters to show up on Election Day. (and neither did Hillary Clinton). Everyone agrees without their overwhelming support, a democrat can't win the presidency. In addition, polls in recent years have revealed that black voters are not as welcoming to gay candidates as is the total population.
1
I don't care about his age. I care about his policies. IMO, he is just another corporate Democrat--basically Republican lite.
I'd elect Greta Thunberg if I could.
9
The presidency is a job you grow into. It takes intelligence, a moral compass that points in the right direction, good judgement, and the ability to learn, to grow into it well. Buttigieg has all those things. While he is not my preferred nominee, I will vote for him if he runs.
I see Buttigieg as the best contrast to Donald Trump, and why I think he’s the best candidate to win in 2020.
His youth will be an asset as he stands on stage next to a 70-something president who is the epitome of aged, stubborn, short sighted thinking.
His service to the country and morals will highlight how disgusting and petty Trump is, and how much of a moral vacuum we’ve had in office.
He is actually from the type of working class community that has swung to Trump, who in reality is nothing more than an entitled, spoiled blowhard whose primary goal is getting media attention through controversy.
He is of a generation that grew up with a level of tolerance and compassion for people of different walks of life, whereas Trump came of age in the time of segregation, state sanctioned racism, and misogyny.
I’ll stop there, but could easily go on. Buttigieg has a ways to go to gain the confidence of the Democratic electorate, but I do believe right now that he is the best candidate to beat Trump (...and to govern effectively).
2
About the only thing I like about Buttegieg is his youth.
It's depressing to consider what a gerontocracy our country's government has become. None of our leading presidential candidates are under seventy. A number of them are pushing eighty - as is the highest ranking member of Congress.
Is it any wonder they all seem so out of touch with the times? Is it any wonder that people of immense privilege that came of age in an another era don't see the downward mobility of so many Americans or the encroaching climate catastrophe? Is it any wonder that the most potent political force is the resentment and fear of bitter old men like Trump?
It's hard to believe we're only a little over a decade removed from Barack Obama's emergence on the national stage and the vigor and optimism he represented; two qualities always associated with America. These days, America is an elderly shut-in watching Fox News - angry, scared of change, resentful.
Buttegieg to me seems a bit slimy, beholden only to his own ambition. But he's got more than a decade to live - I prefer to be governed by someone with a stake in the future than someone who will likely be dead in ten years.
1
The Conservatives won in England by splitting the opposition into irreconciliable factions. This is Putin's playbook for Trump in 2020.
Brexit was the major issue at hand, but not central enough in importance to the election (see 2020 US Presidential Election).
The original referendum on Brexit was supported by a flow of false propaganda from Putin's GRU, and politicians working actively or as useful idiots.
Democrats and the candidates who want to divide the party between centrists and progressives should consider that this is the strategy of the Trump-Putin opposition.
Reflexively adopting this strategy as central in importance in 2020 is the act of agents and useful idiots.
Brexit will lead to the dismantling of Great Britain as it is presently constituted, and diminish their influence and wealth as a nation. But when the repercussions of Brexit are realized, this may backfire on Putin.
As Great Britain becomes smaller and less wealthy, this may convince England to adopt a unified EUR currency and banking laws.
Doing so would allow the ECB to back EUR sovereign denominated debt for EU issues, with nation-states issuing the equivalent of municipal debt similar in structure to the United States of Europe. This was the missing piece left undone after currency unification in 1999.
A strong Europe, NATO (with Ukraine as member), United States, and all global allies are critical to defense. I like Pete, not the current occupant destroying the nation from within.
2
Warren/Pete ticket would be awesome! Experience, brains and not tracking too too far left.
1
When Trump was elected, I turned to my wife a few days later and predicted that the Democrats would follow the 1972 McGovern model deluding themselves that the whole country was like their bubble. Nixon won 49 states and people hated Nixon.
1
I believe that for many Americans, despite protestations to the contrary, sexual orientation, rather than age, is the deal-breaker here. I wish I was wrong.
Anyone who doesn't understand that Mayor Pete's homosexuality will be as, if not more, important to many (many) voters is living in an elitist bubble. In a Politico poll only 50% of registered voters said they were definitely or "probably" ready for a gay President with 37% saying they weren't ready. But more interestingly, of those same respondents, only 40% thought the country was ready and 45% thought it wasn't (or, possibly, it ain't me who's not woke, it's my troglodyte neighbors).
I'm a gay man but I'm far, far, far more concerned about defeating Trump than I am in feeling good about myself or in making a statement.
4
I will support any Democratic nominee with the innate intelligence, curiosity, and ability to use their intellect to start the federal pendulum swinging back toward progressivism, equity, and justice. Pete meets this low bar.
The day Mayor Pete announced his run for the Presidency, I researched his background as Mayor of South Bend and discovered he had many problems with his Minority community.
However, what struck me the most was his controlled passion as if he were a true intellectual but without a soul. He also appeared to be too much of an opportunist who changed poliically according to how the winds of his fortune blew.
2
Have Mayor Pete do a term in the Senate and he'd be presidential gold.
2
Although I cannot pronounce his name, Pete is the real deal. Warren and Sanders are continuing to make proposals that Trump would punch holes in and Joe Biden's mantra, "I know those guys. I can work with them" rings so hollow. Why did he not get Merrick Garland onto the Supreme Court? and how can McConnell brag that he blocked everything Obama proposed during his last two years. Joe, did you even try?
2
In my heart of hearts, it’s Buttigieg facing TRump on the debate stage. In my head, Biden is the nominee. The idea that Trump would refuse all debates is as revolting as everything else he does.
2
If Buttigieg’s age is not a question then neither is Biden’s or Sanders’. Let’s leave age out of it and focus on experience. The next president will need to cleanup a lot of messes at home and abroad.
5
I do not think statements like [I am or I want to be ] a "Trump slayer" contribute anything constructive to the efforts to rid the country or
a president who defies the constitution almost daily. It fuels the Trump claim that Democrats are out to get him for self-serving reasons. The Times editors should issue an edict to all columnists as well as reporters to be mindful of creating or fueling such Trumpian arguments.
1
Our insane marathon primary nominating system is good for no one but television advertising The chaotic British parliamentary system seems a better approach. One of those from the summer of 1946, I have lost interest in a game that yields the worst candidates. I hope Bloomberg gets the nomination. Even if he ould buy it, that is better than pandering and lying and debating nonsense to get it. As described in Maureen Dowd's opinion in today's NYT, the country is broken, the endless primary based nominating process a manifestation of the rot. The old way with party bosses and smoke filled rooms was better for everyone. Bloomberg will survive through to the convention, undented, by staying out of the clown show in Iowa and New Hampshire. I won't have to swallow hard to vote for him. The process makes me dislike all the other candidates.
It's not Pete's age with me. It's the reality that South Bend, is pretty small scale executive experience. His ability to speak multiple languages is no substitute for foreign policy knowledge. I remain unconvinced, despite his smooth presentation. In this moment he doesn't make my top 5 cut.
8
No one should vote against Pete because he is homosexual.
No one should vote for Pete because he is homosexual.
There are people who are for or against Pete mainly on the issue of his sexual orientation.
Pete does not have the experience to be president.
Being mayor of a city of 100K is not the same as being president of a country of over 300 m.
That some candidates are in their 70's or Trump in his 70's is incompetent does not give Pete the experience to be president.
Jimmy Carter was a good person with good ideas but he lacked the political skills to be an effective president.
JFK was elected to House in 1946 and Senate in 1952.
Though young at 43 when elected president in 1960 JFK had
much more experience than Pete has today.
4
I'm not concerned about his age as much as I am electing an Ivy League/McKinsey, middle-of-the-road Democrat who has no real vision or bold solutions as we hurtle toward multiple crises.
Mayor Pete's greatest talent is making people feel good. That's what got Reagan and Clinton and Obama elected, and all the while we've been sweeping our problems under the rug and the pile just keeps getting bigger. It's not enough to just step around the rug anymore. We need to get in there, get our hands dirty, and clean up the mess.
We don't need feel good. We need do good. If Trump's election proved anything, it's that people don't want business as usual and they're willing to take a leap for someone who promises to make their lives better. Mayor Pete isn't that guy.
8
Age is not Buttigieg's only issue. It is a marker for his inexperience and his blithe assurance that he is up to the job - born of not really being close enough to it to have a firmer appreciation of the nuances of governing on that scale.
Obama was older with more life experience and yet spent the first term learning that same job. I thought Obama was too inexperienced, now there is Buttigieg. Both are smart Harvard guys who speak-well. Come to think of it, maybe the Buttigieg crowd is really feeling nostalgia for Obama.
Let him come back when he has held at least state-wide office and has more life experience (no, sitting in an office in Afghanistan is not much in terms of military experience,either).
The times are too perilous to trust them to someone who claims that "new ideas" are all that are needed to compensate for lack of experience. As for new ideas, we already have plenty of them from the older end of the candidate spectrum. Buttigieg's seem pretty mainstream by comparison.
3
A key notation here from the mayor:
‘How you build a team’. I think that says enough to overcome age.
2
Buttigieg was a moderately succesful of a small Midwestern city in decline for years.
So, in terms of political experience he comes up way short.
Yes, we've had presidents with zero elected office experience, Eisenhower and Trump. The former was just a competent steward and the latter of course is a walking nightmare.
Not having knocked around the world for less than 40 years is a huge disadvantage.
At his age, I had worked in several countries, lived abroad and DCE as an employee of an American company.
I was sharp as a tack and did well professionally.
But over the next 20 years, life provided me with far more knowledge than I could have imagined. In essemce the extra years made me more mature, analytical and thoughtful.
If we're honest, we'll face the fact that Pete won't be the nominee.
7
Buttigieg is certainly super smart, but he reminds me a bit of Macron who does not have a feel for ordinary working people. That has saddled Macron’s administration with many problems. Bernie has my vote and although he is himself old, he will bring in an entire new generation to public service — look to Bernie to have one of the most youthful administrations in history.
5
Too untested and unproven politically at the national level. He has great potential. I like the way he brings religious values into the discussion. Wish he and other Democrats would review JFK's campaign speeches. He consistently invoked traditional American values and invoked American history as a call to arms for change.
Would I vote for Mayor Pete for President in the general election? Of course. Compared to the Wizard of Oz incumbent he has considerably more intelligence, good judgment and character and advocates needed change. But there are a lot of bright progressive young mayors of small cities out there. He has not convinced me that his admirable qualities have developed to the point that he can win and govern.
1
He needs more experience. He has been the mayor of a second rate small city and doesn’t seemed to have done much to solve its problems. Come back in eight years.
5
He’s a lyricist in search of a song. He offers beautiful words and thoughts empty of passion and meaning.
4
@JL When he speaks one of his many languages, Norwegian for example, how do you if the words are beautiful?
1
Why not Mayor Pete? a Biden candidacy is going to focus on his age and energy-level, and enable Trump to make the campaign all about Ukraine. Warren and Sanders seem determined to 'out-woke' one another in competing for the exact same voting pool, which may not bode well for reaching the undecided voters needed to win the swing states (who may not vote for Trump, but could very well stay home). Mike Bloomberg may have waited too long, and the fact that he is not going to be in any of the early primaries, or even appear on the debate stage, is going to be a problem, unlimited campaign ads notwithstanding.
Mayor Pete presents voters with a calm, normal alternative both to Trump on the one side, and the concept of 'too far left' on the other. In a country that's going to be exhausted and worn out by an ultimately-unsuccessful impeachment trial, that could be just what we need. Plus, the other 'too young' presidents - Teddy Roosevelt and Kennedy - were really quite good at the job.
7
Pete Buttigieg is living proof that youth and wisdom are not incompatible. He is a once in a generation political talent. That is not something that one can learn, one is born with it. He is the visionary leader our country needs at this critical time in our history. We need a new generation of leaders and he represents the best this country has to offer.
8
@AJBF
Even princes, who are born "to it", have to spend time learning the job long before they are called on to perform it. Peter's talents will not be diminished with a longer period to mature and develop life experience.
Pete Buttigieg is uncommonly talented and a refreshing change from some of the more seasoned politicians. It's also true he comes up short on experience and real testing, which may or may not prove to be a problem.
However, the glaring unspoken question remains: Is America ready for a gay president, when there are still so many who question whether we can even have a woman in the top job?
4
@Jill A glaring question many voters had in 2008: is America ready for a President who is African American and whose middle name is Hussein?
3
I believe that Mr. Buttigieg's relative youth is an asset to his remarkable, unalloyedly brilliant political talent and noteworthy ascent to the top of the polls. In addition to native bursting talent that can only be honed, not invented, the all-encompassing quilt of his skills embraces climate urgency, pragmatic economic and health care initiatives, military experience and perspective, and hands-on 24-hour-a day governing.
7
@TaminoPR Greenpeace rated the candidates on their climate action and climate justice plans. Buttigieg got a B. In comparison, Bernie got an A plus, Warren and Booker got A minuses. A B grade is not nearly a good enough for this climate crisis.
2
The young favor Bernie because he has the boldest solutions for debt, healthcare, climate action, immigration status-
and they are the ones who will have to live out the rest of their lives buried in debt on an increasingly unlivable, unstable planet- because a moderate's "incremental" steps just can't do enough soon enough.
That said, Pete certainly has more experience than Trump, who had none.
8
@Ellen
However, having more experience than Trump is a pretty low hurdle. Even a toy poodle could jump over it.
2
There are a number of factors working against Mayor Pete (whose last name I can never remember how to spell) most important of which is that the nation is not ready for a gay President. Not hostile to it, but he won’t win the general election.
Mayor Pete doesn’t have the African-American vote. They may not support President Trump, but they will not turnout in the numbers Democrats need to beat the incumbent in the setting of a peaceful world and prosperous economy,
And then there is the impeachment, which will have deleterious consequences for Democrats in general, and for Joe Biden in particular, ironically the only candidate truly suited to overcome the barriers in their way of defeating President Trump. It may open an avenue for the mayor that wil be a dead end for the Democrats.
@Francis No candidate not named Biden "has" the African American vote at this time. Polls do say that in South Carolina 60% of Black voters do not know enough about Buttigieg to have an opinion of him. Pete has one of the lowest name recognition scores nationwide. His astounding success in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he has been focusing his time and resources for obvious reasons, points to a very real possibility that as more voters get to know him his support will continue to increase.
2
I am not concerned about younger candidates, but about older ones. Once we pass 70, our brains often just don't work as clearly or quickly as they used to. I'm most concerned with a candidate's point of view, temperament, and good judgment. The best candidates select their cabinet and advisors with qualified experience to guide them and if they are not of good moral character, a president may choose swampy cabinet members of advisors, such as Trump's circle of criminals and liars. Age is not the issue -- vision and judgment are the important criteria.
7
The Democratic party needs youthful ideas - a fresh approach. Look to a Sanders/Gabbard ticket. The progressives are the answer. The article is correct, our founding fathers were very young but the key point is that they had new ideas. Buttigieg is simply following the principles laid out by the boomers. He is a young boomer!
5
@Redneck If you think Buttigieg doesn't have new ideas you have not bothered to hear what he has to say or read his policy proposals. His policies are quite progressive but designed so they will bring people together, not further divide us. "Progressives" like you would make a better case if you were better informed. I am a progressive and I'm voting for Pete.
2
@Redneck Aye. Buttigieg is boomer redux. All these old timers see themselves in his steadfast equivocation. After a campaign of soaring flux, who needs to go through the hippy era to arrive at what is euphemistically called reality?
2
At age 64, I have very few qualms about Pete's age. Sure, a few more years on his frame would likely be a good thing, but the country has already tried a subhuman in the Office of the President, so just about anyone would be an improvement. That being said, I would actually like to see him on the VP side of the ticket (for just about anyone else currently running). Personally, I'd love to see a Warren Buttigieg ticket. They may have differing policy ideas, but I think that ticket would exude competence and honesty, especially compared to the current officeholders.
3
Today I decided I'll vote for Pete. I was going to vote for Bernie, but now fear he is too left for this country. I don't consider age a factor in my decision. Bernie never falters like Biden and both are rather old. I am a 67 year old white middle class suburban woman.
6
@Judy Petersen
Bernie to Buttigieg is a big leap. Bernie has bold ideas and can reach the working class, rural voters, African American and Latinx voters, young voters, women - in short all the demographic groups we are told need to be courted. Pete attracts older, white, educated voters - and little else.
Butigieg's "new ideas" are the same old talking points of the Democrats for the last forty years. If you are comfortable with someone who gets his money from Silicon Valley and Wall Street and is friends with Zuckerberg, he is your man. Bernie, on the other hand, understands the pull to "dance with the one that brung ya" so all his money comes from individual contributions, not super PACs. He has over a million contributors and has strength all over the country.
Tough choice, huh? It is a matter of values more than a matter of age.
3
Every human being has 'worrying shortcomings', including quite a few journalists. And the U.S. with the arrogance of an empire or a country with uncountable nuclear weapons refers to its President as 'Leader of the Free World'. After Trump, I think the shrinking 'free world' might take issue with that.
But Democrats have decided; Buttigieg’s campaign is over once the primaries hit South Carolina and voters who make up a key constituency of the Party, African-Americans, finally get a chance to make their voices heard. It’s not age, it’s failings on Buttigieg’s part on the issues tied up in race.
3
@John Gallagher By your assessment only Biden stands a chance and all the other candidates should quit right now. NO candidate besides Biden has significant African American support at this point. Doesn't mean that can't change.
2
Age has nothing to do with it, for me. Experience does. I'd like to see him run for higher office (governor or Congress) and/or work in federal government before assuming he can take on the most challenging and powerful position in the world.
3
Frank, Seriously? I cannot believe that you have concerns that you do given what we had have seen of the man so far. Trump had ever reason not to be elected by his character and history.
I believe in his vision and comments about the future. We cannot continue to have old white golf playing wanna be war presidents driving us into bankruptcy.
5
I don't care about his age, i care about his education, manners, capability of leading us all, including homophobes, towards healing and restoring the positive values that made Americans who they are.
7
Mr. Bruni. do not say that "Maybe he [Buttigieg] 'd match up well against Trump." Of course he would . I have two six year old nephews and a seven year old niece who would match up well against Trump. Who wouldn't match up well? We need someone who is wise (which Trump is not) and educated (which Trump is not) to undo the damage Trump has done in the few years of his unfortunate presidency so far. We have to correct our climate problems which he exacerbated. We have to restore the regulations which protected our health, air, and water--which he has polluted and made carcinogenic. among other evils. We have to restore the global markets which he has emasculated with his unproductive trade wars. We have to get our allies back, starting with the tragic Kurds who he has put out to be slaughtered , and our NATO allies who are now detached from us. He has insulted the world, tormented minorities especially the migrants and their children , who we have to get out of those cages. And maybe we can start tearing down the silly Trump Wall which is a waste of money that could be much better spent. There is much to do. which requires the energy of youth as much as the wisdom generally associated (but not exclusively so) with age,
6
@shimr
When it comes to the climate, Bernie's plan gets the only A rating (its A+) from Green Peace; Buttigieg's plan gets a C. If you care about where the clean water, breathable air, and food will come from in ten years, the choice isn't even close.
So much for "new ideas".
1
Compared to the stale aged egoist in office now, Pete would be a breath of fresh air that would fuel America’s greatest gift... the dare to dream and be truly great again. Youth has its virtues.
7
I love Mayor Pete. He’s got the right stuff. Age is just a number.
6
Is mayor Pete to young? As opposed to someone well into their seventies?
7
If you put any Democratic candidate on the scales versus Trump*, we’d be infinitely better off with the Democratic alternative. I’ll vote for whoever the Dems nominate, but Pete has been among my top choices from the beginning. I also liked Kamala Harris and still like Elizabeth Warren. I’ll probably send them money before Iowa.
I think Biden is too old and it shows. I think Bernie is too old, a sudden death risk after his heart attack, and too dogmatic. I won’t be sending either money unless one wins the primary.
Notice I’m somewhat less concerned with ideology. Medicare for all isn’t going to happen in the first 2 years, so there better be a pretty good plan B. A bad start and R’s could retake the House. A president is not king (sorry, Donald Trump*), and has to work with Congress.
I want a candidate who is smart, ethical, and practical, with sufficient charisma. Doubtless, they all have feet of clay, but at least they’re not Russian stooges, philanderers, sexual predators, business failures, or congenital liars.
Again, Trump* has set the bar incredibly low.
3
Warren for President. Buttigieg for Vice-President. The debates: Elizabeth v. Donald and Pete v. Mike. Dream Team.
4
I like Mayor Pete a great deal. He's obviously incredibly smart, quick thinking, dedicated to this country and has some very good ideas. But he has several strikes against him. His young age and lack of national political experience are obvious. His intelligence will be off putting to some, just as many in the right didn't like what they thought was Obama's inability to relate to them (the old "a guy I can have a beer with" syndrome). And like Obama, Mayor Pete is trying to get elected in a nation where racists and bigots can't see past their prejudices and hate.
1
Not an appreciable difference between age 39 and 43, the age of John F. Kennedy when he took office as POTUS.
6
@Paul Johnson
Maybe, but Kennedy had served in a leadership position (not a desk job) in WWII and was a decorated hero having saved the lives of his men when the pt-109 he commanded was blasted in half. He had served in the House and Senate as well. He also had a chronic disease to live with.
He had considerably more experience than Peter.
3
After Republicans and reality TV fans foisted our current president onto the world stage we can only assume that if you can breathe and talk then you can become President!
1
Even just asking the question is ageist.
Mayor Pete is not too young to be president, but Trump is most certainly too corrupt and too unfit to be president. He assumed the office illegitimately.
America should be so lucky as to have Mayor Pete become president. It won't happen and one major reason is lack of support from the Black Community.
Perhaps they'd prefer another 4 years of Trump, and if they don't show up at the polls this time that's exactly what they (and America) will get.
6
Why is there an age limit in the Constitution?
1
Age has nothing to do with Mayor Pete becoming President. More importantly is his past work for McKinsey, who he now bad- mouths, while at the same time taking huge donations from them. Reeks of no integrity.
3
It is not his youth, but his lack of experience. If we are going to consider mayors at all, we might look at Sen. Booker, and Mr. Castro, who have been mayors of larger cities and who have broadened that experience. I grew up in a town the size of South Bend, and the mayor was popular and well-liked and I would never have considered that mayor qualified for the Presidency. Younger people don't like Mr. Buttegieg because he doesn't seem young -- he seems like an old person's idea of what the younger generation should be.
4
We do not need a “moderate” who spent the last twenty years curating his resume. We not need a cute smarty pants who wants to add President to his CV. We need a warrior seasoned by decades in the trenches dealing with “depraved and unredeemable” Republicans (to use Krugman’s adjectives.) We do not need another Obama to learn on the job what Republicans are really like. We need a clear-eyed warrior whose actions inform his words, whose ferocity in defense of the American idea lays waste to the abomination of desolation that is the Republican way.
If our problem were merely Donald Trump, maybe Mayor Pete (isn’t that a cute moniker!) would be just our guy. But our problem is millions of our continent mates who do not have a clue what being an American means. They forget the Constitution if they ever knew it. Mayor Pete likes to criticize Sanders and Warren for their use of fighting language. That is because he has no clue about what we are up against. Just because you read the textbook does not mean you can do the homework problems.
Can we think our way into character and wisdom, or do we have to live our way into them? I am not entirely sure, but I trust a few earned wrinkles more than a few well-turned phrases. Obama taught me a lot.
2
Buttigieg or Biden, it's the same big Wall St. campaign donors and what has been wrong with American politics and both parties for more than 40 years.
Unlike others, my vote means something to me, as does cleaning up the mess that is America. Most of those running are part of the problem. I'd vote for Warren, Klobuchar or reluctantly Sanders, but only if Warren or Klobuchar was the veep on the ticket.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/13/buttigiegs-list-of-top-fundraisers-includes-mckinsey-partner-wall-street-execs-084958
Pair up with a seasoned VP, that solves the problem.
3
Buttigieg's age is of far less concern than his lack of governing experience. He has been Mayor of a city of just over 100,000 people. He oversees a total city budget of $368 million and has 1,000 employees.
He now proposes to preside over the federal government, which employees 2 million people and has a projected expenditure of $4.4 trillion.
It doesn't matter if you went to Harvard and Oxford and worked for McKinsey. Eight years as mayor of South Bend no more prepares you to be President of the United States than running a fraudulent real estate enterprise does.
It does show extraordinary hubris though.
2
Bruni's points are well taken, but remember: If Buttigieg wins, at 39 he will take office 37 years senior to the current incumbent.
5
No, the youthful energy of a 37-year old accomplished leader and scholar is not a barrier to the Presidency.
Intelligence, ethics, leadership, loyalty to the nation, selflessness, decency, honor, trust, and insight should be some of the qualities that are requisite to be President.
The current occupant of the White House, at 73, has not a single qualifying character for his office.
That is why he lost the popular vote by 3 million, only obtained a 72k vote margin for an Electoral College win through foreign intervention, and his campaign manager is in jail.
Many older people retain their brilliance, wisdom, and good character late into their days.
Donald never had good character to begin with. He was a crook and a con man working in casinos and construction, serially bankrupting companies and fraudulently conveying the assets before leaving creditors, investors, vendors and workers bust. His "foundation" and "Trump U" were frauds.
As he has aged, his ability to speak English has diminished markedly into gibberish.
Is Pete too young? Please bring back someone with brilliance, honor, and proven loyalty to the nation and oust that Russian crook from office.
Trump's addled pumpkin-faced loud rantings have sapped the patience of the nation and the globe, and dishonored the United States of America long enough.
8
“One of the things I get is, ‘Why aren’t you more passionate?’” he said. “I’m very passionate. But I’m also very disciplined. If I weren’t, it would be harder to be taken seriously.”
Intuition may tell Pete when his passion must be released. Once taken more seriously, once given a real shot to the nomination,
a deel conviction and authentic passion unchained by a powerful speaker is as contagious as measles and can move mountains
2
As a 68 year old, I welcome his youth. We have become a gerontocracy and it is not good for our country. His youth combined with intelligence, calm demeanor, ability to learn, and reasonable policy positions make him the best candidate. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to see him debate Donald Trump?
7
The idea that Buttigieg is a candidate that "looks to the future" is ridiculous and very much reflected in the polls. That 2 percent figure for younger voters says everything. Our generation's distaste for him is widespread, and that has absolutely nothing to do with his age.
2
JFK had 14 years of congressional experience as a member of both the House and the Senate when he was elected president.
While Kennedy was the youngest elected president at age 43, Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest occupant of the White House, assuming the office at age 42 following the assassination of William McKinley.
1
Hey here’s an idea: instead of fretting over abstractions like youth or sexual identity, how about giving Mr. Buttigieg a listen with both ears? After that you might consider giving the age argument a rest. Along with his septuagenarian rivals.
5
I think he is going to be POTUS coming 2020, he is going to be the last one standing in the current scrum, and no I don’t think he’s too young.
4
Buttigieg isn't too young. His maturity is beyond mine and most of my peers, and we're in our seventies. It's Trump that is too young. Like, a baby.
6
Trump proves age has NOTHING to do with maturity.
8
No he's not. And while we're at it, maybe we should be asking if some people are too old.
6
I think Frank Bruni forgets one thing. Buttigieg is smart. Smart people surround themselves with other smart people. Smart people know when others around them have more knowledge and experience and they will listen to these people and rely on them.
6
Nope, not too young. In Buttigieg years Mayor Pete is actually 55, the perfect age for the presidency.
5
Like so may of your columns, I get to the end and ask, "What was the point?" You raise a number of questions, but offer no answers of your own. You're the one sitting with Mayor Pete for an hour in a car. What are your impressions? What does your gut tell you about the man? This column fails to add anything of substance to impending primaries. We know Mayor Pete is uncommonly young. We know many of the other candidates are ridiculously old. That's where you are supposed to offer us something that you're access affords you. To dodge it at the end makes the whole exercise pointless.
.
3
Not sure that 'is he too young' is the most pressing question right now. It's mentioned he gets 2% of ages 18-34. The more pressing question is 'why'? There's scant evidence he's a striving power hungry corporate elitist who would fleece the public to serve corporate greed but this is the woke-Twitter narrative.
There is now a Twitter mob, immune to facts, who are seething over this LGBT candidate in their own party, one whose nomination would be historic and whose platform would be more progressive than anything that preceded it. They are posting things like this:
"Left veterans can bully Pete into ending his campaign. This is truly possible if we put our hearts into it...we can bully this nerd into oblivion". It got 4500 likes
They label him 'not genuine', 'sneaky', 'suspicious' and 'with 'something to hide'. These are accusations that gay men can encounter when they don't adhere to traditional stereotypes
It's this vitriol from the left that needs to be dissected. If the Times reports on its manifestations, as it did when it reported on protests recently, it needs to do a deeper dive into its origins. There were obvious attacks against Obama & Hillary that were rooted in racism & sexism. We can't now pretend that homophobia doesn't exist on the left or in the LGBT community. It's not as easy to spot & there's nothing simple about it.
This needs to be addressed & if it's playing any part in these attacks on Pete, it needs to be exposed for what it is
5
I don’t think homophobia is the reason he is polling so poorly among young people. He is a moderate, and young people favor progressives.
2
@Zoe
But that's the thing - he's not moderate in policy only in temperament. The question is, why can't this generation see that? Is it the echo chamber of misinformation on social media? After all, social media isn't really a bastion of critical thinking. What role do cognitive biases play? ('he looks like a Republican, so he must be one!') Is it the fact that he doesn't adhere to a gay stereotype and so they don't believe he's authentic? We can't just dismiss that that could be part of it.
If the Twitter narratives gain traction in the real world (like I think they're starting to) it could spell the end of his campaign. And there will be post-mortems on how his generation, the ones that are for progressive policies and LGBTQ rights, facilitated the downfall of a progressive LGBTQ candidate, because, bizarrely, they believe the nonsense that he's Republican-light
1
Age and seriousness are being used as proxies for gay. It has a great deal in commom with what men say about women candidates. There are all sorts of coded words white men use to get away with this stuff. And you are letting them.
3
I'd much rather vote for a brilliant 37-year-old than a septuagenarian, no matter how brilliant he or she may be, especially when one has had a heart attack and another who is obviously struggling and whispering about being a lame duck on inauguration day.
Experience bought us nothing in 2016. Voters aren't looking for experience. They never look for experience, despite the mad protestations to the contrary. If they did, FDR, JFK, Barack Obama would never have been elected. Bob Dole and Al Gore would have been elected. Hillary Clinton would have been elected.
Voters are looking for character, resolve, intelligence that soars to brilliance, someone with both common sense and an eye and feel for the future. And yes, voters often want the new-new thing.
Pete Buttigieg is the obvious choice.
I'm voting for Pete Buttigieg.
4
In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is the king. With the Democrat field high in quantity and low on quality, mayor Pete can defeat 3 petes, the other 3 front runners in Iowa. Success matters. The rest is irrelevant. Democrats have one agenda defeat Trump by hook or by crook and the rest will not matter to them.
2
The real question is not whether Buttigieg is old enough. Just consider what a mess Bush II and Trump have made of things. No, the real question is whether enough voters would put aside their bias against gays to elect him president.
1
Picking on his age is a good way to downplay the real reason people won't vote for him - he's nice. And I don't believe anyone wants equality. They want advantage. And so he'll try to turn our kids into nice, fair people. He'll want to go into classrooms and into colleges and won't accept the kids who are born mean. He'll say, you can be nice, too.
My real issue is no one deserves to poke another person in the chest let alone 300 million and say behave this way. Yet, people ignore that and buy into the fun. This Pete guy would still fall short if he was as old as Noah. The situation is absurd. It's like how the Israelites pleaded for a king. Also, being serious we need to stop building up imaginary America the greatest country ever, the most powerful war machine. It's not true. And if it were it shouldn't be a source of pride.
I've for months predicted Biden heading the ticket with Mayor Pete as his VP, and that Biden would turn it over to VP Pete in 2024.
Biden has many reasons to be motivated in battling Trump in a head to head matchup, and I would expect him to come out swinging hard. He won't let Trump bully him.
And I think Buttigieg would love to take the debate stage against Pence, calling him out for the hypocrisy of his servitude to Trump.
1
I will once again suffer the indignity that comes with defending Trump about anything. It doesn't matter if you've championed truth, justice, and the American way, a statement that Trump's fingernails are well-trimmed is a sentence to purgatory.
But, because, like Jim Carey, I have taken a truth serum. I have to say what I have to say.
As a father, I felt it was important to stand up to my kids when they whined. And, in doing so, I often strummed an invisible violin in mockery.
I find Greta Thunberg overly sincere, an Asperger's 16-year old locked into one tune. When she lecture the world about carbon, it reminds me of my overly serious children who have taken me to the mat for spitting my gum out into the recycling barrel. An over-long speech when a "Hey, Dad" would have done. And so I strum my violin.
Trump's mockery of Greta, telling her to lighten up, did not strike me as child abuse. But, if it matters, which it doesn't, I'm all for impeaching the fool.
The GOP candidate will be Donald Trump. Just about anyone, regardless of age, would be an improvement on that!
2
Arthur C. Brooks tells us that our creative peak is likely to come in our 30's and 40's. See his article in The Atlantic, it's fascinating:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/work-peak-professional-decline/590650/
As an "older person" I see the importance of cerebral and physical energy as critical for the monumental task of leading this unwieldy and divided nation. Pete Buttigieg is a deep thinker and has proven his ability to act outside the box. We should not be afraid of the power of youth, and we should definitely capitalize on it.
4
What age has to do with it? Its about being prepared for the job and have enough solid experience ..He doesnt have it.. and dont compare with other world leaders.. countries are different, with different positions in the international affairs arena.
Look at the state of the world now and how having Trump as President has impacted it... not to mention your own country.. choose someone with intellect and preparadness, we cannot afford another failure
1
Alas, the opposition to Mayor Pete gets the whole thing upside-down. As if having a "traditional resume and long experience in power" had anything to do with a voter's choice these days.
Is anyone suggesting that Donald, the right-wing capo-anarchist lawbreaking Putin-lover, promises wisdom and continuity in an unstable world? I hear crickets.
Yet the USA will be destroyed by this man Trump within the next 2 years, if we don't select Trump's exact counterpart in media skills. What does a majority of voters want? They don't want a nice old body with progressive vowels; they want a smart, young, vigorous, non-mainstream, edgy but very American, and pragmatic guard-dog; someone who served with honor in Afghanistan, for god's sake! a Rhodes scholar with intellectual vigor and a clear and respected American voice (who could possibly claim that for Donald!), who will eat Trump alive on TV and stomp his cronies in the biased media. Go Pete!
4
Mayor Pete is certainly old enough to be President. And I must say, it will be refreshing to have an actual adult who is not mentally ill as president after Trump is thrashed in November.
2
I'm drawn to Mayor Pete's intelligence, accomplishments and character, but I'm wary of choosing a millennial to be the Democratic presidential nominee (I'm Gen X), at least at the ages the generation now spans.
After all, it's millennials that have given us hipsters, selfie culture, man buns, influencers and pumpkin spice lunacy, all the while upending vast sectors of the economy.
At least Mayor Pate doesn't have a beard, unlike every other white guy of his generation. I'll give him that.
I'm just mad the Constitution prevents AOC from running for another five years.
1
In a country of 330,000,000, how is it that we have not one devastating candidate in the Democratic party?
1
Guess the fix is in Biden or possibly Bloomberg. Wonder who the powers that be will select for VP?
Trump, at 72, wasn’t even (and wasn’t and isn’t qualified to be) a dog catcher. As irrelevant as Trump’s dotage is Buttigeg’s youth. Buttigeg still has more political experience added maturity than Trump will ever have.
1
@David
The Republicans didn’t outmaneuver Obama. They had a majority in Congress. Bernie Sanders wouldn’t have done any better than Obama if he had the same numbers in Congress.
Plus, it didn’t help that progressives, like Sanders supporters and black progressives like Cornell West, bit Obama around the ankles the whole time he was president— as much as if not more than Republicans.
Bernie Sanders will lose 46 states. He wins MA, VT, NY and CA. Take a look at what just happened in the UK. It can happen here too. Working class white voters won’t vote for a Democratic Socialist.
1
Seriously? When is is someone going to be old to run?
2
This is not really rocket science. It is clearly, blatantly, painfully obvious that Buttigieg is far more mature than Donald Trump. If Donald Trump is sufficiently mature to be President, Buttigieg is more than sufficiently mature.
2
Everybody , conservative or liberal and in between must take a stand and come together as centrists to block out the fools on both extremes. We are smarter than this and good god folks this is about saving our country. Common sense, good, moral folks who believe logic prevails over childish lying fools who rather hate than find solutions need to speak out. Stop allowing those who are so ignorant and uneducated lead us to failure. All good folks, republican and Democrats have to speak out and condemn the fools on both fringes of our parties. Some are in high places but they need to be taken down. Or else we should give up and move to Norway or other countries who took our post war ideas and made them happen. Unlike what we’ve done which is let the illiterate, crooked and immoral take over and spit in the face of what the US Of A is supposed to stand for. Can’t we educated folks compromise, come together in the center with Mike as our leader and let’s get back to being Americans? Put down your anger both Dems and GOP let’s stop this before it’s to late. It’s time those of us in the middle came together and become the strong resistance to both far left and right and once and for all turn this country around with a strong centrist like Mike Bloomberg. I’ve had it with extremes, the fighting and name calling that has dominated politics for 20 yrs and even more so under Trump. Both sides have good ideas. Let’s come together and stop the lying immoral insanity that’s dominated us.
1
It's not a matter of age, it's experience that matters. Pete has none.
3
Four years ago when Sen. Sanders announced his candidacy at a strip mall in Vermont, hair blowing sideways, 14 people in the audience, making his now well known case, I immediately sent him $500, money wasted was my firm conviction but I followed my conscience. Almost a year ago, I sent Pete $500 and here's to hoping his candidacy isn't torpedoed by the powers-that-be in the democratic party. I'm with him.
4
He cares more about billionaires than the rest of us, and on top of that is patronizing and smug. Hard pass. P.S. Bernie polls incredibly well with young voters, is raising lots of money from regular people and draws crowds everywhere he goes. Bernie can win.
2
He is a Democratic version of Scott Walker, drawing Democratic admirers the exact same way Scott Walker drew Republicans, and drowning out the voices of far more qualified women candidates, one of whom was Kamala Harris. Yes, I'll vote for him grudgingly should he win the nomination, but Mr. Buttigieg should be running for governor of Indiana, not president of the United States.
3
I don’t think Buttigieg is too young. Not everyone ages at the same rate; Pete seems to be an old 37. But then, he was probably an old 16-year-old, too. Some people are just always mature beyond their years. (And then, there are some who aren’t.)
But is Buttigieg too smart? Too white? Too gay? Too calm? People are making everything about him a rationalization for supporting someone else, but I have a feeling that, as his challengers fall away, Pete is going to soldier on. Intelligence isn’t a real issue; he probably is the smartest guy in the room, and that’s a good thing. Orientation isn’t much of an issue, as Pete is the kind of gay your grandmother can get past. And calm? After Trump, who doesn’t want some quiet?
Only the “too white” issue may haunt him, and that only until Obama’s endorsement after Biden falls out.
I am looking forward to next November.
10
He is too corrupt already to be president and his grasping progressive policies in the beginning because they are so popular and then sliding clear over to doing commercials against the same policies in the space of a few months is pretty telling. And for God sakes what kind of president do we get when he is owned by corporations lock, stock and barrel? Maybe he can benefit you Frank, but not most of the rest of us, his owners will not let him, they have a bottom line you see and that means he has to protect it for them. He is mayor of a small town and for the love of God do a piece on his cover up and part in the racism and getting rid of so many black officers in the police dept.
Also do you really buy his answer when asked why none of the people his age are for him? He said it was a well known fact that it was the older voters who went for the younger candidates? Really? There are no facts to back that up, look and find them I dare you, He just made it up and looked askance at having been asked such a question.
2
Well, we’re not doing too well with the old guys, are we?
5
Seriously? I am am. older than social security and Medicare. Both passed by Democrats. Mayor Pete has been sent to us from above. I hope he and our Vice President team up. I hated Trump however I now know how mentally ill he really is..There is no other reason he does what he does. Biden and Pete. They can save us.
1
Alexander Hamilton was 30 in 1787. Intellect and curiosity, not age, are the foundations of wisdom.
3
@mm068
Hamilton was 30 in an era when men lived to 43 and toddlers worked in factories. Not analogous.
3
If the youth of America wants 70 year old plus windbags to run the show, we are in deep trouble. It's their ballgame now so they should start swinging at some pitches themselves.
2
May I point out that Trump isn’t actually governing. Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller are. Jared is 38 and the vile white nationalist Miller is only 34. I’ll take Pete, thanks.
12
Trump is 72 and behaves like a petulant 4 year old.
Pete is 37 but acts so much more mature than his age.
Enough said!
4
He meets the age limitation of the US Constitution, so I guess he's old enough. He's also less likely to die or suffer from dementia in office as Trump, Biden, and Sanders are. He may well have this retired boomer's vote.
5
I think what matters isn’t necessarily the age but what you’ve done in the time that’s been given to you. Here you have a Harvard graduate who went on to be a Rhodes scholar, the most prestigious post-undergrad scholarship in the United States. Upon graduating from this he decided the most impactful mark he could have would to be a management consultant for McKinsey. Yawn. Pete is not someone who has pushed for social justice in South Bend, stood at a picket line, or gone out on a limb for minorities. No wonder he polls so lousy with people his age and younger who are clamoring for social change, this is a generation that wants radical action on income inequality and global warming, not intellectual opining and inspirational platitudes which Pete excels at.
I’ll vote for Mayor Pete if he is the nominee but what a letdown it’ll be.
2
Buttigieg is a better choice than many in the Democratic field, and I think he'd be up to the job.
Whether he could get the votes over the subterranean homophobia of a great part of the electorate is another question.
This going to be a nasty and election and the GOP is going to stoke the fires of bigotry like nobody's business of P.B. is the nominee.
Too many Democrats think they are going to win because their cause is just and their hearts are pure. It doesn't work that way.
I wish I saw more evidence of hard-nosed tactics and strategy at work.
He’s not to young, he’s not too gay but he is gay and I can’t seem to move beyond having a man serve as First Lady. Or watching them dance at an inaugural ball. Or pardon a turkey or light a Christmas tree or anything couples do. I don’t care what he does behind closed doors but the White House is the people’s house and we will be constantly looking in. We will have to watch and I guess I’m just not ready for the show.
@J Clark
You have been able to see yourself reflected in the family in the White House, as has every other straight person, for as long as there's been a White House.
No one in the LGBTQ community has had that luxury. I'm straight, but I'm happy they'll now have the opportunity. A new generation of kids growing up will be able to see themselves reflected in the family in the White House and know that they belong. It's a powerful symbol.
It may be odd to say that that a gay couple are the ones to bring normalcy back to the White House, but I think it's true. No scandals, no affairs, just a committed marriage and a couple of rescue dogs. Together with Chasten, who's from a working class family, they'll be an advocate for everyday Americans. He's a teacher and a wonderful mentor to kids, so seeing them lighting the tree, doing the Easter Egg Roll, etc. is where he'll shine.
Just because you haven't seen it before, doesn't mean you can't get used to it. And I'm hopeful that once you see the good they will do, and the joy they can bring, that you can change your mind
If a person can be to young then ,by the same token, a person can be to old.
4
If Trump has proved anything, it's that no one is "too" anything to be elected as POTUS.
5
Well yes. Metaphorically speaking.
A tad smug, self-assured. Compared to the experience of others, his vision is startlingly lacking. I'd urge the gentleman to run for governor.
3
If Buttigieg is the Democratic nominee, I will vote for him in the general election against Donald Trump. However, I'm concerned that as much as he talks about his generation and younger ones inheriting a future marred by climate change, he doesn't have as strong of an action plan as the older candidates.
Greenpeace rated the Democratic candidates on their climate action plans. Bernie got an A-plus. Warren got an A-minus. Biden got a B plus and Buttigieg got a B. This is just not good enough in my opinion. And it probably is the first B that Buttigieg has ever received.
The United Nations says we only have 11 years to act with any agency on the crisis. That is why I'm voting for Bernie in the primary.
2
Not only does he need more high-level government experience, he also needs about ten more years out of the closet.
1
Buttigieg’s age is irrelevant. What matters is that he is yet another Democratic politician who has sold himself to Wall Street.
2
Is Pete Buttigieg Just Too Young to Be President, Mr. Bruni?
No.
I mean, c'mon, man! We've got a seventy+ incompetent fool with the emotional maturity of a two year old in the White House right now. Pete Buttigieg strikes me as being both smart and level-headed and absolutely committed to governing responsibly the United States of America. That pretty much goes for all the current Democratic candidates for president, no matter what their age. And whichever one gets the nomination will get my vote.
Frankly, I'd vote for a level-headed five year old over Donald Trump. He or she would take regular naps, have play times, go to bed early, and would never, ever "tweet." Given the mess that's now in the Oval Office, I'd call that a vast improvement.
3
Et tu Frank?
Between this and the McKinsey piece it appears the editorial board has already decided that Buttigieg is not getting the endorsment of the Times.
Certainly there are qualifications to consider but when I compare him to the spoon fed toddler occupying the White House today, I don't see that age is any issue at all, nor experience, nor temperament, education, understanding of the principles the nation was founded on, empathy for and understanding of the American people etc.
Given all of that you go right ahead and squawk about his age because that's all that matters. Give him the full Bernie treatment.
4
I don’t think he is too young. Kennedy wasn’t much older than he is now. The problem is that he is unqualified to be president. He lacks gravitas. He lacks experience. He lacks sense. But most of he has a sense of arrogance and entitlement about him. On top of that his election would irreparably divide the country. If you think Obama had a hard time because he was Black, wait to see the impossible time he will have because he is gay. Some day there will be a gay president but not until a long time in the future. Last, we need someone who can beat Trump and Pete can’t.
NO he's not. The truth is that the US political class is too old by 30 years. Bought and sold. People with not one wit of concern for the planet and its climate. They already have one foot in the grave why do they care? They really don't care for your children. Look at all these gun massacres. They are blinded by the country becoming second rate. No concern for them as they will be leaving soon, just not soon enough for the rest of us.
1
You think the person we have now is qualified? Think again.
2
Vote for a moderate in the White House, vote for progressives down the ballot.
4
So, if it is true that Trump dreams about Mayor Pete, what might that tell us about Donald, in light of Mr. Buttigieg’s openly acknowledged sexual orientation?
1
Buttegieg isn't too young, he's simply too inexperienced and too wrong-headed. He won his last election with 8,515 votes. Yes, the comma's in the right place. Eight-thousand.
He's also wrong-headed insofaras his endorsement of continued military intervention around the world, even entertaining the idea of sending US troops into Mexico to police drug dealers.
Democrats do tend to win when they nominate younger candidates (B. Clinton, Obama) and lose when they don't (Kerry, H. Clinton). Fortunately there is a young but experienced Democrat with military experience who prefers peace to war: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
2
I will take young, intelligent, multi-lingual, and well-educated over Donald Trump in a heartbeat.
2
Trump proves the presidency ain’t a hard job...I think 39 is absolutely fine for a guy like Pete...I worry about his toughness but he DID go through basic training...More than you can say for the others sans Tulsi...
1
Of course Buttigieg isn’t too young! Trump is 70 and look what that got us! Conversely, Pete has had life experiences that most can only dream of having, such as a first rate education, active military service in a combat zone and most of all he has the SOUL of a wise and caring person. No other candidate can match his abilities and he would make an outstanding president, far too good for a country probably not ready to elect him because he’s gay. Our battle, Frank, for equality and against homophobia is far from over when 2/3 of these United States can STILL fire you for loving someone of the same sex. This goes doubly for African-American Democrats, who have never embraced equality for the LGBTQ community, and that’s a fact.
4
Anyone who asks if Buttigieg is too young to be President is just not paying attention. Name any other politician of any age with a comparable level of intellect, wisdom, empathy and charisma. He is an astounding political talent. I had never been this inspired by a candidate (not even Obama) and firmly believed that Pete would make a very great President. Wish the NYT would stop the unfairly negative coverage of this transformational candidate.
4
If a person is not currently qualified, in your estimation to be President, then being just one heart beat away they should not qualify yet as Vice President.
Unless the President sees the VP position as their insurance policy against assassination attempts? Get rid of Trump (capitalist media fanatic) and you’re stuck with the worse Pence (right wing religious fanatic).
Since he announced his candidacy, I have envisioned Pete Buttigieg engaged in a presidential debate across from Donald Trump. Small in stature, physically fit, in total command of the English language, proven immune to sophomoric insults, Buttigieg would be the perfect visual foil to the oafish, lumbering, undisciplined rants of our current president. In fact optics of a Buttigieg/Trump debate are so troubling for Trump, his team is already floating the idea that Trump would not take part in any 2020 debates.
I also take umbrage to Pete’s acquiescence to the notion that the younger you are the more life lessons you have to learn and counter with,“ you can’t teach an old unethical dog new ethical tricks!”
I’m 66 and wholeheartedly embrace Pete!
4
I’d just like one of the democratic candidates to show some vision. Stop being so morally outraged, what’s your plan to move beyond it? How are you going to keep the economy humming? Seriously.
1
"The Trump slayer" -- brilliant. I"m going to steal that! Thx, and good analysis also. D.A., J.D., NYC
1
It strikeso me that nearly every time the Democrats picked their so-called "safe & electable" candidates (Mondale, Kerry, Hillary) they lost, but when they've gone for theunconventional, like Kennedy (youngest & first Catholic), Carter (southern governor nobody ever heard of), Clinton (nearly a combination of both the previous) and Obama (more conventional than all three previous combined) ... well, you know what happened with them. Dukakis is maybe the only nominee of last 50 years that doesn't fit this pattern.
By being "safe" and voting Kerry, did we bring about President Bush's term II instead of President Dean? Did going with Mondale (a strong parallel to Biden!) cost us President Hart?
1
i’m not concerned about his age but I did not like the manner in which he objected to Beto O’Rourke‘s suggestions about guns. I’m paraphrasing but I think he said “I don’t need you to lecture me about guns.“ Beto looked surprised.
I thought it was harsh, unnecessarily so and smug. Also I think it would help for him to have brother experience behind him.
1
Emotional maturity is more important than age. Trump has the maturity of a poorly raised toddler. I think Buttigieg is smart enough to know what he doesn't know and unlike Trump will bring in smart people to serve in his cabinet and advise him.
3
The question is not as the headline states it. It's how old will Buttigieg look after 8 years in office, given the predictable Republican harassment.
it's not his age, but his less than stellar record with African Americans in a small city which give me pause, along with a few other questionable things. Were he not white, he would not be poll so highly in the early states.
1
The issue is more his lack of experience. He's a vet which is good (thanks for serving.) Being the mediocre mayor of a town of 100K people is not enough prep for being POTUS.
It's a shame that Cory Booker isn't receiving more serious attention. He has a great deal to offer!
2
I don’t care if he’s young and gay. I just don’t sense fire in Buttigieg’s belly. And if he’s nothing more than a HRC-style establishment type, he’s going to bore the Trump Democrats.
What won’t bore the Trump Democrats is the vision of a country less divided by inequality of income and opportunity. One where 20-somethings from McKinsey aren’t advising plant closures and outsourcing as a way for speculators to increase their unearned profits on the backs of the working middle class.
1
Buttigieg’s youth is less a concern than his experience. However well he performed as mayor, the experience was limited to a town’s needs, interests, concerns. Dealing with the powerful corporate world and the natoions of the world isn’t part of the small town mayor’s usual duties.
I was thrilled as Buttigieg made his mark as a candidate, soon known nationally for his fine mind, calm temperament, presidential aspirations. Right now, he’s remarkably green to have gained so much respect so quickly.
When he’s “ready” (proven with wider experience) - and when enough of America is ready to accept a gay man as leader of the United States and beyond how could he lose! In 8 years, with some serious national and hopefully international experience to tout, he might be elected in a landslide.
I could imagine him elected as vice president in 2020 - good experience for a future presidency! It risks losing over homosexuality - though that might attract more voters.
For all the ugliness from anti-gay promoters of the year, it does seem the prejudice, so blatantly exposed, is attracting more activists for equality for all. If humans still inhabit EArth in 2028, we just might elect Buttigieg President of the USA.
On the other hand Biden there are a couple potential candidates that are too old.
Boomers have done plenty to ruin the country and the world. This Xer says “ENOUGH!”
Oh my, what absolute drivel. The median age in the United States is 38.1; the median age of the 2020 presidential candidate pool is 74.5. Nancy Pelosi is 79; Mitch McConnell is 77, so the median age of the Congressional leadership is 78... all of which implies that a country whose population is in the upper 30 to mid 40s is being led by a group of old people who cling to power and a unique post-War World II vision which no longer reflects who we are (if it ever really did). Policies are being shaped by a few singular members of a generation the majority of whom are either dead or long retired. It is time for the American people and nation to be led by the next generation of leaders. Look, I’m in my 60s and I know what being in charge feels like: the entire country was built and is being maintained by people like me for people like me: older, affluent, white, males. Mr. Trump and Mr. McConnell are building a legacy that is straight out of the 1950s of White, male privilege in the 1950s model of segregation and isolation. They have nothing to lose; they’ll be dead within 10 years if statistics tell us anything. What about those who follow and have another 30 to 60 years ahead of them? It’s time the country recognize the age of the post-WW2 generation is past. Elder statesmen are one thing bringing wisdom and circumspection to the conversation but a country led by a geriatric two-party cabal of petty, petulant oldsters is doomed to continue decline into mediocrity.
4
Simply put: oh yeah. Way to young. To get things done in DC you need more than a good story and fine words. It's a prison yard. You have to have cred going in. Favours owed, favours given. That's why most presidents are old. Our allies abroad need to already know you. No, millennial. Experience does too count.
2
Reading the comments here I laugh at the amount of people who assert that they know what Pete Buttigieg will do if he becomes president. The same can be said for people’s critiques of other candidates. This fortune telling is a nonproductive waste of time. Compare that with what we see everyday happening in the White House. Enough already.
1
I want an old war horse like Sanders who is fiercely dogged in his advocacy for the people and not the least intimidated or fooled by the growing cadre of dictators and industrialists who want their fiefdom to be the next world order.
3
Based on watching the antics of all the seasoned politicians during the impeachment hearings and listening to trump’s nonsense I’d say Pete B. Is light years ahead of all those people in intelligence.
4
Stink bomb thrower, Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is the same age as Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Yet, there’s no comparison between the two, Mayor Pete is in a league of his own. Gaetz is in it because of daddy and clearly wouldn’t be good at anything else. What Mayor Pete Buttigieg brings is fresh thinking, incredible intellect, compassion, leadership and a full understanding of the moral predicament the country is in right now. All his good qualities outshine Trump and GOP members of the various Congressional Committees. From Doug Collins to Gaetz to Jim Jordan (who’s involvement in the wrestling team’s sexual scandal hasn’t been fully vetted) or Louie Gohmert (who should be retired and in treatment).
1
2 reasons I don't like Butagieg for president & neither of them have to do with age. 1. He's was to corporatist. & 2. There's this religiously inspired sanctimoniousness about him that I can't stand.
3
Mayor Pete has no business in this presidential field. He needs to run for a congressional seat or governor rest. Yes, he is smart. But smarts alone are not enough for a president. As a lifelong Democrat and a liberal at that, I don't want him to get anywhere near the nomination. Beyond that, I don't think he can beat Mr. Trump, who will belittle his sexual orientation to shreds.
1
Competence intelligence instinct are traits a person is born with. Buttigieg has these. Team him up with Booker and there’s your winning ticket.
Trump is living proof that you can only be young once but immaturity can last forever.
3
I don't care about age. I don't use age to decide what people can do. I don't discriminate or prejudge on the basis of age. I don't say so-and-so is too female to be president, or too Black, or too Jewish. And I don't say so-and-so is too young or old to be president -- or to do anything they want to do -- because that discrimination is just as bad.
2
Hey, Frank, I usually love your columns but this is the second one that is mostly about Buttigieg's age! If he behaved like an immature, childish person, I would understand your worry. But he is just the opposite. He exudes intelligence, discipline, and, frankly, experience. I understand why some people might find him too centrist, but I really don't understand why age would be a problem with him. The old geezers who are running for president, on the other hand, have a serious age problem.
3
The question is not is he to young...the question should be are Biden and Sanders to old
1
A lot of heady rhetoric. Smooth talker. His experience? Light, and part of it with McKinsey, under a cloud of pervasive shady business practices. Seems a light Republican. Who's funding him? Who's influencing him?
No thanks. I don't get the appeal. And from a pragmatic standpoint, America is not ready to elect a gay man President. It's as simple as that. The Democrats don't need to shoot themselves in the foot two elections in a row. And it would be nice if they nominated an actual democrat for once. You have to go back almost fifty years for the last one...that's half a century. That means the Democratic Party is functionally obsolete. At such a time in US and world history, too...
2
Forget age, he too far left to be President. I thought Hillary’s “Your issues are my issues” comment to Bernie Bros was enough to permanently rule out every Dem candidate but the entire field’s refusal to cross a picket line in Chicago is a new low.
1
Yes, but . . .
Buttigieg is an attractive, intelligent candidate, no doubt about it. I'd vote for him if he becomes the nominee (I'd prefer Klobuchar). But the inescapable reality is that no Democrat can win the Presidency without the solid support of black voters. And that appears to be Buttigieg's Achilles heel at the moment.
Many will say that this is absurd; that black voters certainly have no home in the Republican Party, so their choice is already made. Yet there is this concern, and it's a real one: the combination of voter suppression (hello, Wisconsin) and general apathy about Buttigieg's candidacy, especially his sexual orientation and his handling of police- citizen issues in South Bend, may cause many blacks to stay home on Election Day, or turn out in numbers far below what is needed to carry the Democratic ticket to victory.
The hard, cold reality is that Buttigieg's nomination would pose a real, tangible risk to the Democrats, who desperately want and need to vote out Trump and his goose-stepping base in the Republican Party.
2
Here's an idea. Buttigieg as President and everyone else running for president as his cabinet.
1
“The Constitution decrees that a House member must be at least 25, a senator at least 30, a president at least 35.”
Someone who is only 25 would be superior to the person who is currently defiling the presidency. For that matter, Greta Thunberg, at just 16, would be superior.
And it’s not just age. I think a 4 year old Basset Hound would make a better president than the current Insulter-in-Chief.
1
Many of the most accomplished physicsts had their career highlights in their twenties and thirties. Einstein, Heisenberg, Dirac, Bohr, Schrödinger, Pauli etc. Let's try Buttigieg while he is fresh and energetic. Older does not automaticly mean wiser, but at the most better informed.
3
Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no".
So, no.
1
There are voters who will not overlook that he is gay. His age has no bearing on anything. He checks all the right boxes but I really don't think we're there yet.
1
OK boomers, how many septuagenarian candidates do we need?
2
His youth isn't a concern.
The problem is he is more concerned with being president than anything else. He started with support for Medicare for All. He acted like a progressive. As Biden faltered he saw an opportunity to take a different course and go after Bidens supporters who are older and more established. They like that he speaks well.
Pete has a history of listening to donors not to voters. I recently read a favorable piece on him here that touched on several aspects but missed a myriad of issues. Best start being harder on him.
For example they talked about him firing a black police chief taping his police officers. So people said oh that seems realistic. They didn't say that those cops were racists and trying to remove the chief. These racists cops knew the people who funded Pete. These racist cops accessed his donors and had the black chief removed.
Massive funding is coming to Pete. He has shown he can be bought and will do what he is told by those who fund him. This is why massive amounts of wealth are flowing his way.
South Bend council may drop fight to force release of police tapes
https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/south-bend-council-may-drop-fight-to-force-release-of/article_5654c68a-659a-5f74-9804-90cacf175cb9.html
Do we need someone weak on handling racism in America?
Pete will say what will get him elected. Nothing proves he will do any of it. That does matter. Of course weak democrats are what wealthy people prefer.
3
Yes. Come back in 10 years, Pete. You'll not only be older, but maybe you'll be wiser.
1
It’s beyond disappointing that Bruni devotes an entire column to analyzing the youthful age of a presidential candidate named Pete Buttigieg, rather than to thoughtfully examine the content of his character and the viability of his political positions. At the end of the day, Buttigieg’s age, like his sexual orientation, should not be the reason why someone votes for or against him. And while this column all about Mayor Pete’s age affecting his electability ends with “It shouldn’t be a deal-breaker,” the fact that it was the subject of an entire NY Times Sunday Review column just made it one.
2
This Boomer can not wait to see a new generation lead. It’s well over due. God help us if we elect another 70 yr old. Why does anyone think that is aa good idea? To have our own Jacinda is a dream come true.
1
Bloomberg/Buttigieg 2020! That is my dream ticket.
At least he isn't living at his parent's house.
He only seems too young because the Democrats have supported the rise of a top layer of geriatric candidates that is smothering the candidacies of those whose time has come
2
Aren't Trump, Sanders, and Biden too old?
Buttigieg has no vision. He can be clever with words, flirts with demagoguery, but hasn´t provided details on how he will pay for his public option option, or what he has to say to the millions who will still be without health insurance if his plan were to be implemented. He´s too inexperienced at the federal level and Trump will destroy him. I also have questions I can´t dismiss about why he waited until after he´d been elected to his first term as mayor in order to come out. That just seems hard to explain in this day and age. And the US isn´t Finland or New Zealand. Buttigieg is the last thing we need, after the way Trump has gutted Federal agencies and departments.
2
That Joe Biden's campaign is willing to float the idea that he's content to serve only one term underscores the strategic error of electing a near-octogenarian: doing so forfeits the advantage a popular incumbent would enjoy in four years and forces Democrats to endure yet another slog of a primary. (At the same age, Mike Bloomberg's billions are not is only drawback.) Bernie, too, must consider what electing someone even older – and possibly less fit – would mean in four years. That our constitution stipulates a minimum age to serve surely invites the conversation as to what age is too old.
Consider this: at 37, Pete Buttigieg has held elected office longer than the current president, making him arguably more experienced.
No. He isn't too young. He is just the right age . Most people in this country are retired by age 65. Industries that require innovative, creative 21st century solutions aren't clamoring to hire 70 year olds. There's a reason for that.
4
I am a Boomer and have NO qualms about Buttigieg becoming the president. He's intelligent, well spoken, serious, and he's young and that IMO is a huge advantage because it places him in step with the future.
Look at Trump's attempt at an insult -- Alfred E. Neuman and Mad Magazine -- only old people like we boomers know Mad Magazine that's why it was spoken by an old man to a group of old people at one of his rant-a-thons. Young people wouldn't even get the reference and the world belongs to the young -- not the old.
I want new ideas, a fresh face, a new perspective on old issues. It's time for the US to catch up with the rest of the world in which younger men and women are becoming presidents, prime ministers, etc. It was young men who formulated the entity that would become the United States, they wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence -- they dared to walk away from the past of kings and queens and into a future of democracy.
NO Pete B. is not too young -- he's what we desperately need.
676
@Amanda Bonner
Young people do not support Buttigieg precisely because his policies are NOT in step with us, but rather in step with Boomers who have enough wealth to retire and don't believe any radical change is needed in a world teetering on the brink.
25
@Amanda Bonner electability?
6
@Amanda Bonner I'm a 50-year-old Gen Xer and I hear what you are saying about the Boomer generation.
I will vote for Buttigieg if he is the Dem nominee.
However, I really hope it is Bernie (or secondly Warren) who makes it into the White House. Bernie has the best grade - an A-plus - from Greenpeace for his climate action and climate justice plans. Warren has an A-minus. Buttigieg got a B.
I'm sorry but a B is not nearly good enough for the biggest issue of our day. The United Nations reports that we have 11 years to address the climate crisis with any agency. We need bold and swift action. Buttigieg is too much of a corporatist for what we need.
19
Really dubious about someone who made the poor choices of volunteering for the military then opted for corporate work and doesn't have the life wisdom and perspective that only time can bring.
4
Age has nothing to do with Buttigieg's lack of qualifications, because he has literally no qualifications, none at all. He is mayor of a big college town, winning election with 11,000 votes, not by 11,000 votes. he has zip reputation in Indiana for doing anything of note. He's clueless when it comes to race. His appeal is as certain "reasonableness" that covers a barely hidden snideness.
He has put forward essentially no plans for anything at all, including climate... he simply attacks the well thought out plans of others. His speech to the Tea Party, intoning all they had in common, should be a warning to us all. He should bow out, work and actually create a record and then we'll see.
196
@timbo Mr. Buttigieg received 633,243 votes at age 28 for his Indiana Treasurer election, and that is more than the winning votes received by some senators and congress members. South Bend, while in proximity to U. of Notre Dame, had not been a college town, but Mr. Buttigieg has been building relationship with UND. South Bend was a declining industrial city, and had been steadily losing population since the factory closed. Henry Gomez of BuzzFeedNews provided a much more balanced report on Mr. Buttigieg's relation and records with the black community of South Bend ("There’s A Persistent Idea That Pete Buttigieg Ignored Black South Bend. It’s Not True." Dec. 9th, 2019) Mr. Buttigieg has revitalized South Bend, yet keeping the cost of living the 2nd lowest in the US, with the distinctions such as a finalist for Smart City North America, a High Performing Race Informed City by Governing Magazine, winner of Cities of Service National Competition, etc. Mr. Buttigieg has managed to implement many progressive policies within the budget constraint in a red state led by governors believing in small government. Mr. Buttigieg is one of the few candidates who have governing experience in the recent past. Most other candidates are legislators or executives of a company which is quite different from governing.
143
@Susie Buttigieg has been campaigning successfully across the country despite terrible coverage by media outlets. He has risen from the bottom of the polls to the top in states where voters have taken the time to listen to him. We need a flexible thinker as President because it is a complex position in a complex world. Older people are less flexible.
70
@timbo South Bend is not a college town, it is a Midwestern rust belt city that is rising, with his leadership, from economic devastation. He has put forth numerous practical, progressive and visionary plans for everything from education, healthcare, climate, rural America, national service, veterans, women's issues, confronting systemic racism, on and on. And they are all on his webpage, with footnotes, peteforamerica dot com. If you don't know about his well-thought out, well-crafted, and paid-for plans then you have not opened your eyes/ears or done any research, possibly mistaking throwing undetermined amounts money from a bottomless well for pragmatic and passable solutions. I don't think he's "clueless" about very much, so perhaps you would be so kind as to show me a racially diverse city that has solved its problems related to race, policing, etc., because those issues are all over America and they seem to defy solutions as long as racism and inequity exist. Reasonable he is, and in my definition that means measured, calm, open-minded, disciplined, practical, and inclusivity that I don't see in ANY of the other candidates. That other word you used, not there at all. And in today's divisive atmosphere, I haven't seen any other candidate offering belonging and healing, either to broad swathes of Americans or to individuals along the way.
99
The other three candidates grouped with him at the head of the pack ... Elizabeth Warren is in this group but she is quite a bit younger than Sanders or Biden. I was much more energetic, sharp and capable at age 70 than I am now at 78. Now pundits imply that Warren is not just too female but also too old?!
1
It is not a question of youth. We have a president who is over 70 and Trump has proven that age does not automatically confer wisdom. Mr Buttigieg lacks experience in a nationally elected office where the power of the office is also dependent on the power of the political opposition in the Congress. He appears to be a very smart politician who is capable of learning from experience and would therefore be an excellent candidate for VP to whomever the Democrats choose as their presidential candidate.
I like Mayor Pete. He’s highly intelligent, highly articulate, reflective, honest, open, hardworking, congenial, collaborative, flexible, tough, steady, disciplined, competent, compassionate. He’s not a flashy candidate. True, at this very very early point in the campaign, he hasn’t strongly connected with people of color or working class but I will wait and see. True, he’s young and lacks some life experience but isn’t it great he’s a young Democrat with a very bright future in political leadership?
5
"and of course so much depends not just on the individual but on how you build a team.”
That's a lesson Trump certainly has not learned. And from what I know about all the Democratic campaigns, Buttigieg may be the best at that.
2
I care less about his age than his commitment to the Boomer policies that have destroyed our economy, much of the Middle East, and ignored/assisted the rise of authoritarianism around the globe.
We know everything Li'l Pete wants to do will fail, because it has been failing for the last 40 years.
2
Too young, too unqualifed and inexperienced in national and international policy, too tied to ancient male cult religions, too much on the job training needed just to be a competent, effective STATE of Indiana elected official, which is where Buttigieg needs to take his fabulous self first.
And it will always be true that gay men need to cease quoting scripture and lecturing women and girls, as Buttigieg paternatistically and arrogantly has done both.
3
If the rest of the leading Democrats weren't so darned old, Pete wouldn't seem so young.
10
Frank -- your obsession with Pete's age is ridiculous. He is not 16. You start off by mentioning the astonishingly young ages of our founding fathers but state things weren't as complex at the birth of the nation ( a suspect claim ). I'm in my 60's and his age doesn't trouble me a bit. --- This piece really has no point except reverse ageism, least that i saw. What is it with the Times running down virtually every Dem who rises in the polls. The invented McKinsey problem for Pete was crazy ( new employees at mega-firms have little control/impact/decision-making power) and this op ed is more of the same.
8
Can we be nuanced about this? maybe his youth by itself is not the deal-breaker, as you put it. But his youth in combination with his lack of political and Washington experience might be. Are.
No, being mayor of South Bend is nowhere near so complex as administering a large federal agency, let alone the entire federal government. How many employees, for starters, does the city of South Bend have?
He also lacks the Washington ties and experience that serve to make a president effective, never mind what his agenda is.
Besides, he just seems a little boyish==different from JFK, who seemed youthful. And you can be sure that Trump will hit on that boyishness as vicious as ever.
And yes, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden both are clearly too old. You have to laugh at his supporters' suggestion that Biden would serve only one term. You kiddin'? Otherwise he'd be president to age 85. Think America is ready for that? If you do, go listen to his record player for a while.
Elizabeth Warren could be younger, too, but she shows vigor despite her age that gives you a degree of confidence that she's still got the chops for the job. Even she should stop at one term, though.
I love Pete. And I am 60. He reminds me of the days when I saw Obama for the first time. Dang! How long ago was that?
We need somebody who is incredibly intellectual. I want somebody who has really read the Constitution and understands it.
Pete is that person. Also, no bone spurs. He served honorably in our military twice.
Haha, Trump.
10
I’ve liked and supported Buttigieg from the start. None of the other candidates come close to his message and his vision. He has my vote.
5
Yes, Buttigieg is young but I believe he would surround himself with seasoned public servants who know what they are doing and they are doing it on behalf of the country and democracy, not to line their pockets. I do not believe we would see a repeat of the corrupt Trump Cabinet, Ambassadors, family members, and hangers on. Now wouldn't that be refreshing!
6
Buttigeig would be 39 at inauguration? That’s 34 years older than Trump is now!
11
Every time I read that some Democratic candidate is too young, too old, too inexperienced, too tainted by experience, too male, too female, too brown, too white, too whatever to be a viable president, I look at the current occupant of the White House and roll eyes.
There's not a person running for office in either party that isn't better qualified than the 'Very Stable Genius". My mail carrier is more qualified. I'm pretty sure even my dog would do a better job.
Next topic, please.
10
His age is like his sexuality- it doesn’t matter, at least not in the laws that are gonna get passed.
5
Finland’s new president is 36, I believe.
3
Finland has a well educated population that participated in elections. They have a people that can breakdown complex ideas and understand them. They have a free media. They aren’t saddled with the baggage that comes with extreme religiousness. It’s a serious country. That’s why they can elect a 34 yr old woman.
That could never happen in the USA.
1
Audacity has a much better ring to it than arrogance. I never thought Obama was arrogant. But Buttigieg's lack of humility merely sounds hollow.
Would it really matter if he was 50? It wouldn't change his record. Maybe Mike Bloomberg will give him a different perspective on the meaning of executive experience.
2
Age has nothing to do with wisdom - look at the current Republican leadership - McConnell holding up House legislation, no action from his wife on infrastructure, Graham is Trump’s page boy, Romney a wallflower. You trot out all the stereotypes of women, gays, and age. What is Bernie if not shrill with his hectoring and foaming at the mouth - he cost Democrats the WH. Warren is a female version of Bernie - my way or the highway. Tulsi G - just plain mean. Andrew and Pete an awesome team. Passion - give me someone who is articulate and has vision. We don’t need another four years of the man who has eviscerated our country.
4
The age question seems a relevant here — proof? We have a president who is old, incredibly incompetent, poor judgment, and life lessons have brought us nothing but harm as a country. Take Pete all day long against Trump
3
I am still trying to understand how being older matters if your most relevant experience consists of racking up ex wives and sexual assault charges. Oh, and selling condos to oligarchs looking to launder money.
5
You might also have mentioned, as Montaigne does, that Jesus Christ died at 33, and that “the greatest man simply a man, Alexander the Great, also died at that age.”
1
PL-your point “makes” Brunis point- comparing Pete Buttigieg to Alexander the Great and Jesus Christ (Jesus Christ !) is absurd- THEY define the exceptions-Mayor Pete is hardly in that category. I dont think anyone would cavil about Petes age if he had say been Eisenhower at age 34 in Europe-but then Ike was far older than 34 also wasnt he ? Of course you vote for mayor peers vs trump, but his inexperience and lack of accomplishment are what is the matter at hand. H hasn’t shown he can even win a tough state wide election ! Then again , most his opponents havent either. Bennett Bloomberg, Hickenlooper DID, but how are they faring with the biased even intolerant millenials and blacks who are gatekeepers in the party ? But hehe thats why we have elections -thsi is the field of dem candidates we have and they will have to prove themselves to the “adults”, donors and general voters . Harris and booker and Bennett did not. Mayor pet is going to get his chance .hes not winning SC and so Super Tuesday will be Defining.
"Still. Age isn’t irrelevant ... In a country so powerful, at such a perilous time, is Buttigieg simply too young and too green to lead the way?"
Are you kidding? Seriously, Mr. Bruni: at the time of writing this column were you simply so bereft of ideas that this was the best you could come up with? If you had a single example of how Pete Buttigieg is "too young and too green" to be POTUS, I suppose you might have mentioned it, wouldn't you?
The truth is that at the age of 37 Mayor Pete is so much more mature than Donald Trump at 73 it isn't even funny. Comparing Pete Buttigieg to Donald Trump is like comparing a Pulitzer Prize winning astrophysicist to a warthog. (With apologies to warthogs, who may not appreciate being associated with Mr. Trump.)
You fail to point out that to a very large degree the reason that the is "such a perilous time" is because we are currently saddled with a president who is unscrupulous, uneducated, impulsive, immature, self-dealing and corrupt. What America needs in a president, especially at this point in our history, is the opposite of what we have, and intelligence, maturity, competence, honesty and integrity, and as far as I can see, that points directly in the direction of Mayor Pete.
I will crawl through broken glass to vote for any candidate the Democrats put up, but if it's Mayor Pete, so much the better.
4
I’d love to see Pete and someone like Michelle Obama team up.
2
No. The constitution says so.
I am in my seventies. Given the choice of a bright, honest, decent young man and an old fool whose only real skills are utter shamelessness. lying and deception, I would certainly chose young, bright and honest and decent.
3
Pete has one thing going for him as a veteran that the other leading candidates lack. He can point to his own willingness to serve and than accuse Trump of being a draft dodger, a coward, and a bully trying to conceal his cowardness and insecurity. This line of attack could work if it were insistently repeated not only in every debate (and multiple times) but in every other form of campaign tactics...constantly so that no potential voter could get through a day without hearing it. I hope Pete every other potential candidate against Trump realizes that an aspirational only, positive only campaign is doomed to fail. The only way to beat Trump is to attack him far harder than Hillary ever did and cut his knees out from under him.
2
We learned with Obama that emotional intelligence, empathy, self-discipline and smarts DO matter. do I wish that Pete had a few more years of experience under his belt? Absolutely. But I feel even more confident that if he gets elected, he would approach the job with seriousness and heart that this country desperately needs.
6
Buttigieg is one of the finest candidates to ever come around the bend. He is extraordinary in a number of ways.
He can beat Trump.
Don’t fixate on age or past employment. Vote for the wise man. He happens to be young which means he also has energy.
4
I am still trying to understand how being older matters if your most relevant experience consists of racking up ex wives and sexual assault charges. Oh, and selling condos to oligarchs looking to launder money.
2
Being a parent DOES matter though. I think it makes a huge difference to have a perspective that includes mightily the generation that will bear the brunt of a POTUS decision. This is simply carrying mayor Pete’s logic forward. How appropriate is it for people in their seventies who will be dead in a decade to set the cousre for this nation for decades to come ? There are 50 million children who cant vote who will be paying off the national debt !
Is Pete Buttigieg Just Too Young to Be President?
I sympathize with Mr. Bruni's plight, needing to come up with column ideas so often. But Pete Buttigieg, on his fifth birthday, would have been a vastly better President than now occupies the office.
3
Put him in, coach, he's ready to play.
4
Oh quit the hapless Hamlet schtick. Little Petey is right where he belongs -- a little boy Mayor of a little boy town in a little corn-fed State. He has neither the chops, spine, dismissive disinterest or steely nastiness required of the leader of a predatory superpower. And to all those *shocked* at this description, hear this: I am an uber-liberal living on a coast; my exalted and well-compensated lifestyle is absolutely dependent on this country's hegemony - in dollars, in energy production, in weapons, in aircraft carriers - and it's precisely why I have it so good. And the same goes for the rest of you hypocrites. Not a one of you could "live as the Europeans do" in this country. Indeed as they are finding out from Sweden to Albania, neither can their own citizens much longer.
2
Silly article. I am not a Buttigieg supporter, but his age has nothing to do with potential competence as a president. I prize common sense and judgment far over age and experience as qualifications to be president.
Nixon and Johnson were perhaps the most politically experienced presidents of the last century, and they involved this country in a disastrous war that created political fissures which have lasted to this day,
1
One thing which the article did not discuss much is what he has done about his time at McKinsey. He effectively signed a non disclosure agreement with them, a rational thing for such a business. When the questions came up about his work there, he did the correct thing of asking to be released from the NDA, a rational request, which merited and received a rational response.
Compare that to how Trump handles NDAs. A noted porn star is said to have had an affair with him. His “fixer” established a deal with her where she signs an NDA and receives $130,000, in order not to disrupt his campaign. That is a clear campaign finance violation.
The key thing is that most of Trump’s base reacts in one of three ways. “Man, she’s hot! I wish I had an affair with her.” Or, “He’s going to give us anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, and anti-immigrant judges and/or regulations. Forget those pesky commandments and ‘love thy neighbor’, he has my vote.” Or, finally, “He can do what he likes in his sex life as long as we get our major tax cuts.”
Given that comparison, which is symptomatic of our current political state, I can easily vote for Buttigieg for President.
Frank Bruni has mastered the art of projecting Buttigieg while pretending to debate the many concerns over Pete’s candidacy (his age, his inexperience: as he runs away from his years at McKinsey, his lack of African American support, his lack of support amongst his own generation I.e. voters younger than 35, his evolving positions on progressive policies...).
There’s a reason why Politico profiled Bruni in the column: How Frank Bruni put Pete Buttigieg on the map (do read it)
To Pete’s point on lifelong politicians and giving someone else a chance: Elizabeth Warren has been in politics for fewer years than he has...
1
Pete is brilliant and no one could out debate him. However his age does concern me in that his mayoral experience is of a small city. The one with the plans to turn the corruption around is Warren, my choice. However, any democrat running is far superior to the lying bully in the WH now.
1
Good perspective. This article has my mental wheels churning.
It is not that he is too young. It is that he is too inexperienced. He really is. And his experience in being South Bend Mayor did not demonstrate that he was exception -- quite the opposite. My take: he is brilliant; he has good motives; he may be a good person. But he is way, way too inexperienced. And yes, he is arrogant. Let him marinate. He will lose the arrogance. I pray a Democrat wins and gives him a big job in which he learns management skills.
1
Too old, too old--all of them. The Democrats, the Republicans.
We do need generational change. This older generation is destroying everything.
2
I hate Trump's bullying and character assassination, but find it uncanny how he applies a name like Alfred Neuman, hammers it in and has it stick. Trump himself has been caricatured relentlessly. David Letterman made fun of "that thing on his head" for years. But to fight on Trump's terms is to be in the gutter. To support Trump, Americans have chosen to do something very ugly, even while espousing "All American" and "Christian" values. It is not a level playing field as we see today with McConnell's retorts that he will be in lockstep with the WH. The caveat is that Trump admits he is surprised at Buttigieg's success so far. Perhaps Buttigieg can keep Trump off balance with more surprises.
Pete has his qualities but he is no Greta Thunberg. At least not yet.
I lived in Mississippi for four years from 2001 through 2004. Gay people in the Deep South are viewed the way black people were viewed in 1950. There are 29 states in which a gay person can get married on Saturday and fired from his job on Monday simply for being gay. Gays have no federal protection from this type of discrimination. The idea that a gay American can be elected president is extremely delusional, and at this point it's a complete waste of time to even contemplate it. This country won't even elect a female president, and it will be another 50 years before white folks get over the election of a person of color. This is the way it is. Don't shoot the messenger.
2
If he is to young then Sanders, Biden, and Warren are too old.
1
Mayor Pete. Served as veteran. Rhodes Scholar. Qualified.
3
@FM Cory Booker was a Rhodes Scholar. He was Mayor of Newark NJ, where he successfully turned around a far larger and more complex city with far worse problems to tackle. Booker went on the Senate...just saying...nearly all the candidates have far better experience than Buttegeig. He’s a good debater on stage, but struggled to handle his small town police shooting. This is very concerning.
1
Mr. Bruni, how old are you? What age were you when you started in journalism? Is there an "age" that precludes you from the type of thinking, insight and cognition that creates greatness in your field? To be fair (something I believe journalists still value) reveal the perspective from which you make your Buttigieg conclusions. I am a boomer from the 50's and realize that experience has value but it does not determine success. Given the issues our society and others around the world are facing, we should be talking about big ideas, a different future and not "what ifs" about someone's age.
1
No. Interesting though that his sexual orientation is being ignored. This may not be an issue within the woke bubble, but it might be in Middle America.
2
I’m not concerned about his age but I am concerned about the manner in which he disagrees. And the last debate he attacked Beto O’Rourke‘s suggestion about confiscating guns. I’ll paraphrase it, “I don’t need you to lecture me about guns.” Beto looked surprised as was I. I thought it was unnecessarily harsh and smug.
He may be the brightest guy in the room but he doesn’t need to ram it down everybody’s throat.
1
No!
But, Jerry Brown is also not too old!
2
No.
1. What’s Trump’s intellectual and emotional age, again? I get twelve, with a tailwind.
2. Cixin Liu, “Supernova Era.”
3. See #1.
Amazing reading comments from folks who are saying in short “ignore his age, and look at his record...” What record?? Being a mayor of a tiny college town with terrible racism and corruption among the police force?
Side note - use this same logic and you can no longer use the age argument against someone like Sanders - who actually has a record worth looking into.
1
As a PoC I’m really concerned about the white bubble he seems to live in. It explains his inability to connect with African Americans or other PoC.
1
Youth is not Mayor Pete's problem.
1
I am almost 57 years old so I too would be leery of someone so young.
At the same time, when I just turned 18 just before Reagan got elected (so I couldn't vote in 1980), Reagan was the oldest elected President at 69 only about 3 weeks before turning 70. What bothered me then was "He's not going to be around to live with the damage he is doing."
Almost 40 years later, I am right. Much of our current disaster in that this country is now is due to his actions and the climate (in every sense of the word) that the subsequent GOP-morphed-by-the-Atwaters-Roves-Limbaughs-and-Neocons have created.
These people are getting away with murder, so to speak, because they have "no skin in the game". If you're terminally ill, your sense of ethics can go out the window because, what are they going to do... give you the death penalty?
Maybe perhaps we ought to have a Constitutional amendment with an UPPER AGE limit so that way the evil that men (or women) do they have to live with for awhile.
Minimum Age = 35
Maximum Age = 65
I'm sorry, you're talking about qualifications for the job of U.S. president? 'Cause the guy filling the position at the moment paints himself orange, wears a ridiculous bouffant hairstyle, is a real estate developer no bank will lend money to, pretended to be a businessman on a silly TV show, has been involved in over 4000 lawsuits, lies every time he breathes, doesn't read, doesn't know how to use a computer, dodged the draft due to imaginary bone spurs, wrote his own doctor's note during the last election, takes Putin's word over his own combined intelligence agencies, thinks white supremacists are fine people, mocks people's disabilities, is feuding with a dead war hero/senator, and has built a mighty yet invisible wall.
But yeah, sure, Buttigieg is too young. That's disqualifying.
1
Speaks splendidly but lacks substance and depth.
3
Frank is being disingenuous here. He has no problem with Buttigieg's age. He clearly strongly supports him, hence this highly flattering puff piece. By pretending to care about the issue of age, he gives himself the opportunity to refute it as an issue for our benefit. Frank is a conservative, and, in spite of running on the D ticket), so is Buttigieg--just a more respectable one than most. What could suit Frank better?
2
It is time. The way societies are falling apart, bit by bit, being run by old men who use power and money to oppress the poor, disabled, people of color and religion is not working any more. We need fresh faces, new ideas and the calm, reasoned intelligence of a man that wants to at least bring civil discourse back to our country. Basta.......
Is Greta Thunberg too young to make an impact on climate change and galvanize people all over the world?
1
I am 62. I am one of the little sisters in the Boomer generation, with the older siblings hogging most of the goodies. And frankly, I don't see that my generation's greed has slowed down very much. Can't we admit that we have really blown it on a lot of areas? I have been excited about Pete Buttigieg from the first time I heard of him, and would happily form a group of Seniors for Buttigieg. Give this new generation a chance! Yes, there is something to be said for the wisdom of age, but what about the enthusiasm and vision of the young? It is his generation that is going to own this world for a lot longer than we will, complete with all the garbage that we've left it in. Buttigieg is a stellar candidate. And, BTW, why do the Democratic candidates have to be outstanding at all? Look at what rubbish the Republicans offer.
420
@December Pete may be young, but his policies are 100% Boomer.
The point to inclusiveness and diversity is to include a diversity of opinion/policy, not to have the same terrible, planet destroying policies with a different face.
Want to break with the policies that are killing the planet? Maybe try voting for Bernie, who has been right about how terrible those policies have been for the last 40 years.
Maybe being right about things should count for once. For every terrible mistake America has ever made, there is video of Bernie trying to stop it.
17
@December
Seniors fo Buttigieg!
Count me in!
10
@Trevor Bajus -spot on; in reality, the only real issue is climate change, because when my great grandchildren can't go outside during daylight hours because of the intense heat, nothing else will matter.
11
Bloomberg & Buttigieg....one term for Mike & a training ground for Pete!
Would be interesting to have two New Yorkers & two Indiana guys running against each other.
I get it:
The legal minimal age for election to US president is 35, therefore we should probably not vote for an 38 year old. He will have plenty of time to run when he is older and more experienced.
Also, the legal minimal age for voting in the US is 18, therefore we should probably not count the votes of the 18 to 21 year olds. They will have plenty of time to vote when they are older and more experienced.