Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a shining moment in the first hour of the Democratic primary debate last night. The discourse during the debate was about how progressive the Democratic Party’s platform should be in order to win a national election. Whether or not this was what you wanted those on the stage to discuss, it was clearly the only angle CNN was interested in pursuing. The more progressive candidates continued to point out that so many of the criticisms coming from the more moderate or center-leaning Democratic candidates are the same ones made by conservative members of the political party in power.
Buttigieg took that point one step further, reminding everyone on the dais that Democratic candidates trying to appeal to the more conservative members of our electorate have never ended up receiving the appreciation they pander for.
This has been fact for the last few decades. The biggest criticism and failing of the Obama administration was the continued insistence that reaching across the aisle would lead to better compromises for Americans. It didn’t. In fact, it has led to a completely undemocratic gerrymandering of congressional districts and a judicial branch hijacked by Mitch McConnell. Buttigieg also reminded the country that there is nothing particularly “Christian” about Republican policies.