Maltese Millennial Falcon

I work with a bright young enthusiastic guy who likes to talk about politics and international affairs. He handed me a copy of "Shortest Way Home" by Pete Buttigieg and told me I had to read it. So I did. You should too.

Pete Buttigieg (pronounced "boot-edge-edge," apparently it's the most common last name in Malta) is the mayor of South Bend. He was the valedictorian and senior class president of his high school in South Bend, then he went to Harvard and Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, then he worked at McKinsey and volunteered on various Democratic campaigns. He eventually came home to South Bend and became the mayor. This all happened in the first 29 years of his life.

He turned 37 in January and he's running for President. If he wins he could, in theory, become a retired two-term president by the time he's 45. I'll be 45 in twenty days.

Buttigieg is openly gay. He came out after he became the mayor and was reelected with 80% of the vote. Notably this happened in Indiana while Mike Pence was governor. Apparently Buttigieg just gets shit done and his constituents dig it.

I enjoyed his book so much that I listened to some interviews with him and he's really damn impressive. He's progressive but pragmatic. His approach reminds me of a good mediator--start any negotiation with areas upon which both sides can agree, work through those areas to build trust and cooperation between the groups, and then build on that success to address more contentious issues collaboratively.

For example, everyone agrees that we need freedom, democracy, and security. Different people might view those three concepts differently, but if we can find niches in those areas that both sides of the aisle agree on we might make progress in ways that please a lot of people.

Buttigieg has a some hints of Marco Rubio to him. His delivery is really smooth and not clearly rehearsed, but once you've heard him a few times you'll hear the same lines again and again. He also has Rubio's youthful appearance and gameshow host haircut. Buttigieg has at least 50 IQ points on Rubio though and he seems genuine.

When asked how someone so young could have enough experience to be President, Buttigieg notes that he has more government experience than the current President; more executive experience than Mike Pence; and more military experience than any president since George H.W. Bush (he was deployed in Afghanistan for 7 months as a reservist).



His time at McKinsey taught him how to mine data and he's a Millennial so he naturally embraces technology. So, for example, he worked with Notre Dame to develop Wi-Fi enabled valves in the sewer system and now the St. Joseph river doesn't get flooded with Golden Domer shits after a rain storm. He also addressed South Bend's abandoned house problem through smarts, creativity and lots of elbow grease, resulting in the remediation or demolition of 1000 houses in 1000 days.

Ultimately I think he's too young to get the nomination but I think he's a great VP pick--smart, young, mid-western, full of energy and ideas. Like a gay Paul Ryan circa 2008, only he cares about other people and has principles beyond tax cuts for the uber rich. Biden/Buttigieg 2020 rolls off the tongue and I would love to watch him debate Pence.

In fact, I'd love to watch him debate anyone and in order for that to happen he needs to get donations of any size from 65,000 different people. I encourage you to spend a buck to get him on the main debate stage. We're all better off with more smart people running and sharing ideas.

Don't take my word for it, read his book. Or listen to this old podcast if you're too lazy to read.