This diary responds to a suggestion and reposts a recent comment I made.
Kos expresses concern about (i.e., is bent out of shape by) the race for the DNC chair and the abject state of the Democratic Party. Kos brought to our attention that Pete Buttigieg was the only current candidate for DNC chair to participate in the Women’s March on Washington, Jan 21. Ellison, Perez and three others attended a retreat for billionaire donors. See the diaries:
• Our top two DNC-chair candidates were not at Women's March, which proves misplaced priorities
• How do you even begin to fix a Democratic Party this f'd up? Primaries could be a start
and the related news items:
• Democrats missed women’s marches for David Brock donor retreat.
• Pete Buttigieg on Twitter: "Proud to join the bipartisan, multifaith, all-ages women's march in downtown South Bend"
I find myself in substantial agreement with kos, except that I don’t feel hopeless.
It seems good to share with DailyKos readers my own assessment of Pete, as a Democrat in Northwest Indiana, an hour west of South Bend. (I’m not on a first-name basis with him, but everyone calls him Pete.)
Pete Buttigieg is the real deal. I heard him speak to the delegates of the Indiana Democratic Convention in June, 2016. He rocked the joint. He can motivate and inspire folks like us. He’s also hyper-competent, both technically and politically. I offer a sort of snapshot of Pete from 2010, and invite readers to compare it to Pete of Jan. 21, 2017.
I first met Pete on Jan. 27, 2010 when he was running for Indiana Treasurer. He drove 50 miles in a blizzard to meet with a Democratic grassroots organization. (The blizzard suppressed our turnout, but we did muster at least one member from four different counties in Northwest Indiana.) That is, early in his campaign, Buttigieg was focussing hard on the grassroots, and he did a good job. In his pitch to our group, he laid out his agenda and identified several ways the State Treasurer could support and advance Democratic values—fight for working people—starting with choices in investments. In the Q&A, he showed himself to be a deep and clear thinker.
After he lost the 2010 election, Buttigieg had the class to email our group and thank us for our (meager) support [an excerpt, my emphasis added]:
“That's politics. It's not a signal to go home. It's a call to action. It means we need to continue to express not just our policies but our values, and always get better at doing so. To be sure, this is a good time to re-evaluate the specific details and flavor of our politics and policies. But their true measure is not whether they are easy to sell. Their true measure is whether they are true to our values and goals, in particular our determination to move to a more prosperous and fair future for our country and communities. Where they fail this standard, we had better adjust them. Where they meet this standard, we have only to be as persistent and patient as ever in explaining our commitment to them and getting others on board.
That fundamental work transcends elections, and it's here that groups like yours come in. So I am grateful not just for your support of my last campaign, but the critical role you serve in our civil society as we strive to ensure that not just our elections, but the moral and political values that motivate us to participate in them, are as strong as possible. I look forward to remaining in touch.”
The guy we saw in the recent debate for DNC chair seems to me to be a more experienced and confident version of the guy I met in 2010. So, I’m not at all surprised that on Jan. 21, Pete Buttigieg was out there expressing our values, marching in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington.
Earlier, when Sen. Sanders highlighted Rep. Keith Elison for DNC chair, I signed a petition in support. However, Buttigieg announced more recently, and I immediately signed a petition in his support. I also kicked down a token amount of money for Pete’s campaign. But with the news above—that Pete visibly supported the Women’s March while most other candidate for DNC chair were retreating with billionaires—I’ve kicked down some more, and invite like-minded Kossacks to do the same:
• Pete for DNC, Platform
• ActBlue — Donate to Pete Buttigieg!