First off Mayor Pete Buttigieg is not currently even my first choice or second choice for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Also, when I first found out some Mayor wanted to be President, I said, “No way will he make it.” However, after hearing him be interviewed twice, once on Morning Joe, and once by Rachel Maddow, I have to say, “Wow, it sure is refreshing to hear someone genuinely try to answer people’s questions as best he can instead of just saying mindless sound bites.”
I kept trying to figure out who he reminded me of, but then I finally figured out why it was so difficult to figure out who he reminded me of. Different parts of Buttigieg were reminding me of different people. He’s like what you get if you take the best parts of Rachel Maddow, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton. In this case, all of these people are wicked smart. Rachel Maddow is a Ph.D. and Rhodes Scholar. Barack Obama has a law degree and taught at Harvard. Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar and has a law degree. Pete Buttigieg is also a Rhodes Scholar and is a graduate of both Oxford and Harvard. All four of them are incredibly intellectually curious—the kind of people who believe in researching things to death. They all seem to have a real love for people and helping people, although Ms. Maddow seems to have a bit of a shy streak in her—she blushes easily.
When someone asks Buttigieg a question, he is not afraid at all of taking his time to answer the question to make sure that he gets it right. Also, he never seems to play that game of, “If you do not like the question they ask, answer the question you wished they had asked.” Every one of his answers directly addresses the question which he was asked. One also gets the feeling that most of the questions people ask him he has already thought about, but when he gets a new question, he's very quick on his feet. He also seems to be a very kind person—not so kind that people will walk all over him—but the kind of person who believes in being kind wherever possible. After more than two years of the insulting Orange Demon, that is really nice.
I don't know if he can win the nomination. I have no idea if he can beat Trump. However, it sure is nice to see someone who apparently did massive amounts of research on the issues before declaring a run so that he could genuinely come up with solutions to problems and so that he could give good answers to hard questions. Thanks, Mayor Pete.