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Thread: Pete for Prez!

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    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Pete for Prez!

    The Buttigieg presidential buzz has penetrated the White House

    At 39, he is the most recognizable and powerful transportation secretary in modern memory. And he wants you to believe his eye isn’t on the future.



    While Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says he’s not contemplating the race to be Biden’s successor, inside the West Wing, others are imagining it for him. | Alberto Pezzali/AP Photo, File

    By ALEX THOMPSON (Politico)
    11/24/2021


    Since 2010, he has run for treasurer of Indiana, mayor of South Bend, chair of the Democratic National Committee, and president of the United States. At 39, he is one of the most omnipresent and newly-powerful members of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet. But he says he’s not thinking about what comes next, even as he’s buzzed about as a potential Biden heir.

    “I’d say the other thing that I'm really enjoying about this job, although it's very demanding and obviously requiring a lot, is that this is the least I have had to think about campaigns and elections in about a decade and that's a very good thing,” he told POLITICO on Friday, amidst people in hard hats and bright yellow safety vests in a construction zone near Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

    While Buttigieg says he’s not contemplating the race to be Biden’s successor, inside the West Wing, others are imagining it for him. His name is sometimes discussed by aides as a natural Democratic presidential nominee in 2028 — or 2024 if the president opts not to run.
    “Nobody in the West Wing shuts that down,” said one person with direct knowledge of the conversations. “It’s very open.”

    The chatter has frustrated some staffers of color who see it as disrespectful to Kamala Harris — the first Black woman vice president — and think senior officials should tamp it down. Some of Buttigieg’s former campaign staffers also question whether challenging Harris is feasible given how critical the Black vote is in any Democratic primary, and how Buttigieg struggled to attract those voters the last time around. But there is some existing infrastructure waiting in the wings.


    BY CATHERINE KIM

    The political action committee he formed in the aftermath of the presidential race, Win the Era, is mostly keeping quiet, but the website remains up and has been organizing occasional events including one on Nov. 15. Former campaign aides Maxwell Nunes and Michael Halle have been helping keep it afloat, according to filings and disbursement reports. Neither of them responded to messages.

    As for the reports of an emerging rivalry with the vice president, Buttigieg said: “We work extremely well with the vice president's team, and I'm proud to be part of the Biden-Harris team and this administration.”
    The White House declined to comment.

    Buttigieg is getting a taste of what life would be like selling a presidential agenda.

    He was in Phoenix on Friday for a trio of events touting construction projects, including places that could benefit from the administration’s newly minted infrastructure funding law, and addressing concerns about the supply chain. Arizona Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego all joined him for at least two of the meetings, and there was a lot of mutual praise.

    Sinema, who has occasionally given the White House and progressives fits, seemed delighted to appear with Buttigieg at a round table at Mesa Community College where he sat between the two senators. “Thanks for your leadership,” in getting the infrastructure bill signed, Buttigieg said.

    It was his first day on the road as a prominent face of the president’s infrastructure package, a $550 billion legislative initiative he will help implement and sell to the public, with all the political implications that holds for the president.
    “What excites me most is that we're going to have a lot of groundbreakings and eventually a lot of ribbon cuttings,” he said of the year ahead.

    While there is no election directly in sight, Buttigieg’s initial on-the-ground efforts to promote the infrastructure deal had some familiar elements of his past campaigns. There were lots of news interviews, meet-and-greets with local electeds, die-hard fans in “Pete” shirts carrying copies of his book, a protester with a homophobic sign (“Booty Gay Go Away”), and people having trouble pronouncing his name (“Butt-Edge-Edge” instead of “Boot-Edge-Edge,” as the emcee of one event kept pronouncing it).

    There were also attempts at that folksy Midwestern humor that were part of his candidacy roughly two years ago. On the benefits of the infrastructure package, he told POLITICO “this is literally as concrete as it gets.” He noted how cold it was at the bill signing but said that the bipartisan package “warmed my heart.”

    But, at least atmospherically, there are differences from the 2020 primary too. People now referred to him as “Secretary Mayor Pete,” “Mayor Secretary Pete,” “Secretary Pete,” “Mayor Pete,” or the familiar “Pete.” For the uninitiated there was also a new documentary on Buttigieg’s campaign that premiered on Amazon this month.


    “I’m the second most famous mayor in my graduating class, and he's not even mayor” anymore, laughed Gallego, who attended Harvard University as an undergrad with Buttigieg.

    Buttigieg, who’s seen the documentary about his 2020 run, said it brought back a lot of memories but demurred when asked if he thought the movie captured who he is. “I don't even know how to assess a question like that, right? Because I'm just too close to all of those experiences,” he said.

    It was all an unusual scene for the usually mundane life of a Transportation secretary. But Buttigieg is not your typical Transportation secretary. He’s the first openly gay cabinet Secretary to be Senate-confirmed and a new parent to two adopted kids who have become social media sensations, sometimes outpacing the president’s posts in terms of engagement.

    He’s seemingly been at the center of political buzz ever since former President Barack Obama dubbed him one of the future stars of the Democratic Party in November 2016, which has also drawn scorn from older, more seasoned politicians who believe his rise would be impossible if he weren’t a white man with a Harvard degree.

    The current round of presidential speculation comes at a particularly consequential moment for Buttigieg. The Democratic Party is scouring for the next generation of leaders, even more so amid the persistent questions about whether Biden will decide to run for re-election. His aides insist that running again is his “intention,” as White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. But some Democrats see that language as equivocal.

    At the same time, Buttigieg finds himself at the heart of the Biden administration’s top priorities and main liabilities, which will likely have significant effects on his political future. He oversees parts of the supply chain that have been snarled by the Covid-19 pandemic, contributing to inflation and threatening many sectors of the economy.

    Or as Senator Kelly, who’s up for re-election in 2022, said Friday at a federal grant signing for a light rail project: “With all the work we dumped on your desk here, you're gonna have the biggest job of any secretary of Transportation I think in decades, if not ever.”
    Majestically enthroned amid the vulgar herd

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post

    The chatter has frustrated some staffers of color who see it as disrespectful to Kamala Harris — the first Black woman vice president — and think senior officials should tamp it down.
    Given his age, could he not secede her?

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    Can he change is surname to something more pronounceable and Polish

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    Pete the Penetrator for Prez! Nah, sorry but I don't think so. Maybe a tilt at VP- that's a step.

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    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saint Willy View Post
    could he not secede her?
    ...they're not joined at the hip...
    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    Can he change is surname to something more pronounceable and Polish
    ...maybe something more Thai: Buddhajudge...

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    Thailand Expat AntRobertson's Avatar
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    Just can’t see it. Way too much prejudice and bigotry and self-loathing closeted Republicans.

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    Quote Originally Posted by AntRobertson View Post
    Way too much prejudice and bigotry and self-loathing closeted Republicans.
    Yep. I do not see a path to the WH for him, but I also do not think that Harris is electable either. It is Biden or bust in 2024.

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    I'd like to see Buttigieg vs DeSantis: Oxford guy vs. Yale grad.



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    I seriously don't think Biden will have the marbles left to do another term. I don't really see why Harris is unelectable, but if she isn't Buttigieg has no chance.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    I don't really see why Harris is unelectable
    People — even democrats — don't take her seriously.

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    Were we expected to take The donald seriously?

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    Is Pete related to


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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Were we expected to take The donald seriously?
    Well he won.

    Haven't heard anyone say Harris would have a chance.

    Don't forget: She dropped out of the 2020 dem primaries for president before they had even begun — after a few debates and then seeing the low poll numbers.

    She just can't perform on that level.

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    Well he won.
    Yeh, that's serious.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Yeh, that's serious.
    Go on then: Why do you think Harris would be a good candidate?

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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    I seriously don't think Biden will have the marbles left to do another term.
    That is because you are swallowing right wing media/propaganda from the US, which is inextricably linked to Russia.

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    She seems likable, with her head screwed on right (unlike donald). Multicultural, and female.- that should get the PC & minority types out to vote for once. Internationally it might reasonably be hoped that an agreement could be arrived at with Harris' America that would be honored. So, credible too.

    Trump was a one termer- but he did get elected. So anyone can, just as the old saying goes.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    Trump was a one termer- but he did get elected.
    He lost the popular vote by a large margin. America is the only place in the world that you can pull that off. Ironically, the electoral college was put in place by the founding fathers to keep idiots like the orange moron out of office. It does the opposite now. The EC was never meant to be the rubber stamp it is now.

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    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    ^^ There seems to be quite a bit unhappiness with the way Harris has handled her office. She has gone out and done a lot of photo ops but hasn’t done anything worthwhile. Her office is blaming Biden for her woes and saying he’s racist for not helping her keep her numbers up.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bsnub View Post
    The EC was never meant to be the rubber stamp it is now.
    It's serving it's purpose and keeping the country united, IMO.

    The founding fathers foresaw a time when big coastal cities would have enough votes to run the country, the rest of the country be damned.

    The EC solves that and prevents big problems — like disenfranchisement and worse.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Samuel View Post
    The founding fathers foresaw a time when big coastal cities would have enough votes to run the country, the rest of the country be damned.
    No they didn't and that shows that you like most trumpanzees have no idea of your own nation's history. The founding fathers lived on the coast and were afraid of inland mouth breathers. Funny how dumb trumpanzees co-opt the EC and the Constitution when it applies to their indoctrination.

    Sadly, there is no excuse for January sixth.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bsnub View Post
    The founding fathers lived on the coast and were afraid of inland mouth breathers.
    Really, then why is the EC based on the senate which gives equal representation to states, regardless of population?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Samuel View Post
    why is the EC based on the senate which gives equal representation to states, regardless of population?
    I am not going to do your homework for you. The fact that you are so intellectually deficient speaks volumes to your character. But then again, you are just a FaRT in the wind.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bsnub View Post
    I am not going to do your homework for you
    hint: the answer is in my question:

    the EC based on the senate which gives equal representation to states, regardless of population

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    Yeh well, they are saying trump has a reasonable chance of being elected if he runs again. Unbelievable. Guess that must be Chinas fault too.

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