I like Pete

I haven't talked about politics for a while, forgive me for a short shpiel. I was thinking about the fast rise of Pete Buttigieg in the polling and have a few thoughts about his rapid ascent.

I think that one of the many things that scares people about the current occupant of the White House is his mercurial nature.

He was the "disrupter" candidate and turned many governmental institutions and modes of conduct on their collective heads, sometimes in a very frightening way, like his entreaties to North Korea and Moscow or his appeal to white nationalists. These types of actions are contrary to long standing policies and the ethics of either party.

I think that Americans are consciously or subconsciously looking for a candidate that is sober and exhibits a modicum of solidity. A return to normalcy or to the presidency as we once knew it, before Trump.

If you look at the current crop of democratic contenders, with one or two exceptions, they seem like a fairly unremarkable bunch. Quite a few of them are very progressive and promising all sorts of free stuff, Medicare for all, free college tuition, etc.. I think that there is a problem in following the radical Trump agenda with another radical agenda that will merely swing the pendulum heavily in the other direction. The danger is always overreach.

Our country is pretty evenly divided. We need to get back to the center, find some sort of bipartisan solution, a middle ground, having been caught in this polarized political vortex since at least the last Bush administration.

Oddly enough, Pete Buttigieg might be the ideal candidate to bring us together. A mayor, an administrator. A midwesterner, not a member of the coastal elite, not a socialist, a man of faith and conviction. Clean cut, articulate, sound. Steady. A Rhodes Scholar, a war veteran, a man courageous enough to be out in Indiana. I think he will have a strong appeal to the heartland, sexual orientation notwithstanding. He also has generational traction because of his relative youth.

If a pussy grabbing schmuck like Trump can be President, a lying narcissist who received $413 million dollars from his father (when adjusted for inflation), whose real estate businesses went bankrupt six times, was a party to over 1450 legal actions as a defendant, discriminated against minorities, stiffed his subcontractors repeatedly, purportedly committed tax fraud, cheated on his ex wives repeatedly and on the current one while she was pregnant, grifted the public with a fraudulent for profit college scam, and used the presidency as a way to get rich with fat emoluments while dissuading any legal oversight, than I think Pete can too. If America can survive a shyster, it can certainly do worse than a small town mayor.

I like Swalwell as well, although he doesn't seem to be getting much of a lift. Nobody knows who he is. Not a big Kamala Harris fan after the way she seemed to protect Jerry Brown from coming clean about his dalliances with the power companies. The Picker/Poland stuff, never did get to see the emails.

Don't trust Bernie, Biden a bit long in the tooth and getting longer. Klobuchar is pretty good but has a reputation for being a bitch to her staff. Booker seems like a phony to me. Hate Gabbard on foreign policy, think Warren will only continue our uncivil war. Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

I think I am on board.