Mayor Pete can’t find the warmth beneath the wonk of the former presidential candidate
Pete Buttigieg isn’t a terribly exciting documentary subject… which is part of what makes the documentary about him interesting
Film Reviews Mayor Pete
At long last, it was official: Pete Buttigieg—the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, running his first national campaign—had won the Iowa caucuses (by the measure that apportions delegates, albeit not the popular vote). The news took several days to break, thanks to issues involving a mobile app being used to report voting totals; nobody was sure, for a while, whether Buttigieg or Bernie Sanders had prevailed. (It certainly wasn’t Joe Biden, who finished a distant fourth.)
Buttigieg, much more than Sanders, desperately needed the boost in profile and momentum that being declared the winner in Iowa could provide. His communications director, Lis Smith, practically started vibrating when the story hit her smartphone. Chasten, Pete’s husband, could be seen dancing ecstatically to no music at all. Everyone on the team was visibly elated… except Pete, who, upon being told that he’d finally, definitively won, glanced briefly at the documentary film camera that was then following him around, smiled, and quietly remarked, “How about that?”
Directed by Jesse Moss (Boys State), Mayor Pete rarely strays far from the War Room template that’s now firmly established for behind-the-scenes campaign docs. Moss embedded himself with the Buttigieg campaign not long after it kicked off, and the film primarily sticks to the 11 months between Pete’s formal declaration and the South Carolina primary, after which he chose to drop out and throw his support to Biden. Buttigieg collapsed largely because he failed to attract Black voters (or non-white voters generally), a reality that’s acknowledged here without ever really being explored.
Surprisingly, though, neither is the emphasis particularly on Buttigieg as the first openly gay Presidential candidate in American history to look as if he might have a real shot at becoming his party’s nominee. (A gay Republican candidate, Fred Karger, got nowhere back in 2012.) Instead, Moss spends the better part of a year just trying to get his subject to betray some raw emotion, even going so far as to have Chasten pose interview questions at one point. It’s not as if Buttigieg stonewalls the camera, either. He’s just not, at heart, a very demonstrative guy.
How much does that matter for a politician? Obviously, Buttigieg has done quite well for himself: becoming mayor of a minor metropolitan area (sorry, South Benders) at age 30; proving that a married gay man could overcome deeply ingrained prejudice to become a serious contender on a national level; making history as the first openly gay Cabinet member (now in position, as Secretary Of Transportation, to allocate much of the massive infrastructure bill that Congress just finally passed). Yet much of the semi-candid footage in Mayor Pete consists of staff members expressing frustration with his relative lack of affect, urging him to make his public story more personal. When Buttigieg answers a debate-prep question about white male privilege, pointing out ways in which being gay has made him an outsider at times, Smith interrupts him with a sharp rebuke: “You’re going through all of these things like you’re reading a fucking shopping list… You’re not, like, fuckin’, an anthropologist here. This is, like, a thing that you feel.” Chasten puts it more delicately when interviewed, but likewise registers concern about whether the caring, passionate guy he married comes across that way to potential voters.
What’s particularly interesting about this dilemma—if not quite interesting enough to distinguish Mayor Pete from the numerous other documentaries of its ilk—is that Buttigieg doesn’t come across as stiff or robotic, the way that Al Gore sometimes could. There’s never a sense of someone who’s merely regurgitating memorized talking points. He’s personable, animated, empathetic, easy to like. You just never feel as if you’ve been invited behind the curtain.
And maybe, ultimately, that’s merely because Buttigieg is guarded—not as a political strategy, but by nature. When Smith barks at him for seeming insufficiently emotional, he absorbs the criticism with the exact same impassivity that she’s decrying, simply mentally noting it for the record. When Chasten makes an observation (that’s unmistakably a pained complaint) about being the only spouse who wasn’t onstage at one event, Buttigieg deftly avoids letting it become an argument. Giving vent simply isn’t his thing. “It was always framed as, like, let loose, be yourself,” he tells Moss, in an interview conducted after he suspended the campaign. “But to do that would not be myself.” That sort of even-keeled candor doesn’t make for an exciting movie, but it does raise cogent questions about why we demand excitement from our public servants, and whether we should.
104 Comments
A documentary couldn’t humanize a CIA psy-op in human form? Shocking.
The mayor of South Bend Indiana isn’t tied to the CIA LeftAnon 🙄
Wtf are you talking about? Do you think no one is a cia asset? The libs just fucking think everything is ted lasso jfc.
I would love if a documentarian or journalist could rake up some more info on Buttigieg and his work with McKinsey, or that weird stuff tied up with the CIA. Very well could likely there wouldn’t be much there, but the guy seems to have unscrupulous connections.
This didnt get nearly enough attention:https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-21/zuckerberg-offered-advice-in-hiring-to-buttigieg-in-rare-move
OOF. I think just carpooling with Zuckerberg is almost as bad as that weird thirst pic at the Holocaust memorial.
What about when he said “I’m 100% THAT candidate” in front of Lizzo?
you don’t think it’s normal to have a resource map of Afghanistan on your wall?
The only person that should be normal for is Tony Blair, who is a real-life version of the skeksis from Dark Crystal.
But didn’t every skeksis have their corresponding mystic that they merged with in the end when the crystal was restored? Who would that be? Corbyn?
lol! This is a Dark Crystal that I don’t wish to see.
I mean, if you’re a geography nerd who was deployed to Afghanistan… yes?
To be fair, he was in military intelligence (yes, I know the “that’s an oxymoron” joke).
Totally, why won’t serious journalists do a serious investigative report based on the insinuations made by leftist podcast bros while they were running interference for the Bernie campaign??? I can only imagine what corrupt reasons they have for not following what is obviously a very juicy lead…
lol, simping for the PR bro.
PR Bro?? I thought he was a CIA plant??
lol, never stop simping for the PR bro.
Never lose your deranged obsession with the blandly inoffensive former mayor of South Bend, Indiana
lol, never stop simping for the PR bro.
Boy, this slippery, all-purpose concept of the “leftist podcast bro” sure is useful for dismissing everyone who notices the obviously shady stuff politicians are up to!
I mean, would you like me to provide you with names of specific leftist podcast bros? Kyle Kulinski, literally any of the Chapo guys…take your pick. They’re all utterly deranged when it comes to anyone who gets between Bernie and the Democratic presidential nomination. If you’re feeling left out, I can use the more general term “conspiracy-addled terminally-online leftists” instead!
Whike I dismiss Buttigieg for being a ‘bootleg obama,’ and looking like he was grown in a political lab, he is worth studying as he seems to be the only living person in the US who wants to succeed Biden as the empire crumbles. I don’t think the documentary could have been revised in time, but there are already pundits and power brokers who think that Biden will step down after one term. Buttigieg will be expected to push Harris aside and become literally the last US president. The GOP single party rule is coming, and Buttigieg could be the last whiff of positivity before it all goes to hell with rivers of blood in the streets.
bernie won iowa, though
i will never forgive myself for becoming aware of politics. can’t believe i’m gonna know who this guy is for another 40 years.
What about Beto O’Rourke? He was also in the race and was briefly popular for like a week because he had been part of the 1980s/1990s activist hacker collective Cult of the Dead Cow.
We are getting to the point where some politicians might outlive me. I’ll maybe have 10 good years without Ted Cruz, and probably none without Lauren Boebert.
Nah, she’ll probably come to an early end. Drugs or alcohol or some sort of bizarre accident. Maybe even accidentally shot by a server at her own restaurant.
Oh my god how terrible, you are now aware of the most inoffensive guy in politics. I hope you figure out some coping strategies!
oh it’s not so much him specifically, there was just a point in my life where i was blissfully ignorant of politics, couldn’t even tell you the difference between a democrat and a republican, but the less ignorant i become the less bliss i feel.
I guess I’m wondering what awareness of Pete Buttigieg specifically is doing to reduce your sense of bliss.
There was simply no way a gay guy with “Butt” in his name was going to be elected. Sad but true
We elected a president named Barack Hussein Obama just 7 years after 9/11.
I’m still surprised that happened. Bush done fucked up big time
Jesus, I always forget how strange that really was. I think that’s right around the time we entered Bizarro World for good
Dubya wasn’t bizarre enough?
Yeah, the “butt” thing was a joke for like a week and then it faded. He benefited from the fact that primaries last a fucking decade in subjective time.And as far as how Republicans would make fun of him, they clearly don’t need a funny name to make bafflingly childish insults (“let’s go Brandon”)
“it does raise cogent questions about why we demand excitement from our public servants, and whether we should.”I think there’s a reasonable argument to be made that the POTUS should at least have some charisma since they have to deal with other world leaders and try to convince people in DC and all over that things need to be done.Not necessarily W style ‘guy I’d have a beer with’ but definitely more than Mayor Pete’s ‘dry white toast’ personality.
I disagree that he is likable. He always seemed like an annoying know it all who somehow copied Obama’s talking style. Guy also did multiple about faces on things he used to believe.
I’ll take a know it all over a proudly ignorant know nothing ANY DAY.
I thought he was kind of going for an Al Gore vibe rather than Obama. But people made fun of Gore’s supposed lack of charisma and know-it-ness too.
Pete really is the Al Gore to Beto’s White Obama
I misread this as “Pete is the AI Gore” yet I can’t say I disagree.
Yeah, his GPT-3 based model was still in beta during the campaign. Still, he made entire speeches that actually sounded almost like what a human would say.
Maybe styling himself after a losing candidate wasn’t the best move
I travelled from Canberra to Sydney between two night shifts to watch Al Gore speak in 2007 about the environment. He was able to be himself with no pressure to do anything other than the way he wanted to do it. The man was witty, he was funny and he commanded a stage. The man I saw would have steamrolled the presidential campaign in 2000.The Democratic Party really should have taken all their political consultants and fired them into the sun decades ago. They don’t seem to be very good and apparently learn nothing from loss after loss.
Guy also did multiple about faces on things he used to believe.That’s called learning
Pete winning Iowa was a blessing mainly in how it punctured the balloon of the Bernie fans, showing just how much of his appeal and votes in the 2016 primaries was based on being the “white guy” in the race, not because everyone in the Democratic party had suddenly come around to socialism.
yeah that balloon really lost its air headed into Nevada where he won overwhelmingly
catapulting him straight to the white house
my apologies, my first response was reflexively snarky, which was unnecessary.What I should have said is that I think you missed my point. My point wasn’t that Bernie wasn’t able to win lots of states. He did, and has a devoted following. My point was more that after 2016, supporters pointed to his victory in Iowa as a sign that the Democratic electorate had shifted radically, while 2020 seemed more to indicate that “generic white man #1″ has a pretty good shot in Iowa, given that Buttigeig ran mostly as “gay, but don’t worry I’m still a generic white man” and managed to win it.
I think you’re forgetting about the whole thing where Obama leaned on all the not Bernie candidates to drop out simultaneously
So you think a one-on-one contest between Bernie and Joe is unfair? You think Bernie can only win when there are multiple Democratic candidates vs a single socialist candidate?Eleven states voted during the time when all other candidates except Sanders and Biden had dropped out. Bernie won two of them.The Democratic Party has rejected Sanders twice now. However, since you sore losers will never stop lying, I think we should just let Bernie be the nominee in 2024 so he can go up against Trump in the general election. If Bernie wins, the Democrats have someone they can work with in the White House; if he loses, we never have to hear from him or his QAnon supporters ever again.
I didn’t miss your point, I just thought it was stupid and determinist
Okay, that’s fine then.
he didnt even fucking win you dipshit
That’s….a real weird take
Agree about it puncturing the balloon. I would also point out it agitated the most insane contingent of BernieBros, to the point that they were accusing Buttigieg of cheating by rigging the app that tallied the votes.Crazy conspiracy theories from Bernie supporters is nothing new, but what we witnessed after the Iowa caucus was a dry run for the lie about Dominion voting machines after the 2020 general election.In fact, everything about the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election seems to echo what happened during and after the 2016 Democratic presidential primary: You have the sore loser candidate telling his supporters he can still win even though it is not mathematically possible; then telling his supporters the will of the people can be overturned at the final ceremonial count of delegates; those supporters than throwing a tantrum when their leader was not un like he promised; finally, the sore loser continuing to lie about the election being rigged.Sanders/Trump supporters will never accept Clinton/Biden earned more votes than their Dear Leader. At this point, I am so tired of dealing with their lies, I think we should just let Bernie and Donald face-off against each other in 2024. That would be a win-win for the Democrats: Either Trump is defeated and there is someone in the White House we can work with, or Sanders is defeated and it greatly diminishes the power of his QAnon squad.
Mayor pete lost clearly bernie got more vote but the dems love to be rats https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-primary-elections/iowa-results
This is why no one trusts the democrats, everyone knows that iowa victory was a fucking farce. because of people like mayor pete and the super tuesday backstabbing I am never voting for democrats again. I voted from 08 to 18 all dem, but if they are going to come after bernie fuck them. I hope all of you fail for the rest of your lives, and when mayor pete runs you will get washed you fucking morons.
But did the Chinedu incident make it in?
Watch it and find out.
Narrator: she didn’t
who is this for? does not need to exist.
I’m not a big fan, but I would imagine there are people who want him to run for president again who would be the audience for this.
Buttigieg was never my candidate, and I got pretty annoyed with some of his flip-flops over the last few months before Iowa, but it was genuinely kind of fascinating how much sheer vitriol Buttigieg generated and just how unhinged some of the reactions to him got. The bland white guy from Indiana — not the avowed socialist, not the fiery progressive populist woman who made billionaires cry, not the bi-racial woman from California…but Pete Buttigieg. The New Republic ran a rancid and borderline insane piece speculating about Buttigieg’s sexual proclivities, and that kind of thing has even continued today — Tucker Carlson famously mocked Buttigieg for taking paternity leave, and even some left-wing podcaster types are joining in the sneering about Buttigieg learning to breastfeed.
Yep, that’s being gay in America. Legally pretty close to equal, but still fair game for mocking in a way that straight people never have to experience.
It was so bizarre. He was being treated like an alien who had no idea how humans behaved because he was somewhat cringe in a completely normal way. Like I said, not every young gay guy is an irony-poisoned podcaster from Greenpoint.
I feel like a lot of the vitriol, at least from what I observed, came at him from the Left. Some of it was merited – he was more moderate than the progressive wing would have liked, he lacked experience (arguably a laughable critique given how far we’ve seen a one term Senator go and I actually think the mayor of a city gets more executive level experience and is more battle-tested than a Senator, and lets not even get into reality tv stars/heirs of unearned wealth), he was a white mayor from a city with unresolved racial issues.But I genuinely think a lot of it stemmed from jealousy. Here is a millennial — a peer to many of his harshest critics on the Left — who has proven himself successful professionally, politically, personally, etc. In a game that feels rigged against people of his generation, he played by the impossible rules Baby Boomers set, and he fucking won. Rhodes Scholar. McKinsey. Decorated veteran. Mayor. History-making presidential candidate. Member of the administration. Family man. All under 40, in an environment where many millennials can’t even achieve the “modest” victory of home ownership (nowhere near as attainable as it once was). I think some people essentially see him as a traitor to his generation. While I didn’t vote for the guy and never intended to, at least not in the primary, I do like him, I think he’s a capable person and I’m glad he’s in the administration. I also feel strongly about parental leave and I’m glad he took his and I’m both horrified and delighted at the shit fits the Right is having over it. I was very fortunate to have a generous paid leave when my child was born and I used every second of it and my only regret is everyone (men and women) doesn’t get the same amount as I did.
You’re onto something, but it’s not jealousy of his success, it’s awareness that he’s clearly a striver with no real positions or politics. There’s an unavoidable sense that his choices in life have been in pursuit of power, which is a quality some Democrats find appealing, but clearly not enough. Hard to imagine what anyone would like about him being the president except that it would make people with no real stake in the game feel better about the country. Not surprising at all that he would mostly appeal to upper-middle class educated white people, who have the least to lose by tacking into the status quo and just “putting someone who seems smart in there.”
All democrats and republicans only goal at this point is the pursuit of power.
I feel like I could have written your comment almost verbatim. I definitely feel like a huge chunk of the hate for him has to do with his age. Some older people resent any millennial and younger people see him as a teacher’s pet type. He’s a perfectly adequate politician, and America could have done a lot worse than to elect him, regardless of the fact that he was never better than around third choice for me.
He was successful but the whole thing reeked of a person who had decided he wanted to be a powerful politician and was checking boxes. He was only unfortunate to born in the wrong state with no possibility of career advancement, so why not try a run for president. There was no chance of him becoming president but it will get you out of Indiana.
People hate him for a lot of probably weird reasons but he seems like the person you would create if you were imagining the ideal centrist copy and paste candidate.
Envy and an inferiority complex are a hell of a toxic combo.
But I genuinely think a lot of it stemmed from jealousy. Here is a millennialIt’s not jealousy. He has come out so far ahead of the rest of his generation I think there is a feeling that he couldn’t have gotten where he is honestly, or he’s so damned lucky he’s never really struggled and is completely insulated from the problems people his own age demand elected officials confront.
I’ve noticed Kyle Kulinski being particularly nasty to him from the get go, pronouncing his name as bootyjudge. It’s around when I stopped listening to his podcasts. And I otherwise paid little attention to Pete.
The reason progressives hated him (and, as far as I could see, progressives hated him faaaaar more than even the most virulently homophobic conservative) was two-fold, IMO:1. They honestly didn’t think Biden had a shot, and that this was Bernie’s year, and after Iowa Buttigieg emerged as a tangible threat to Bernie.2. Progressives are clamouring for radical change, and Pete Buttigieg looks like he was grown in a vat in a secret lab hidden in the basement of a neoliberal think tank. I’m not saying that’s an accurate reflection of his politics. I’m saying that’s an accurate reflection of his demeanour and his physical appearance – both of which matter way more than policy anyway. The man does not embody radical change. He looks like he graduated Magna at a finishing school for aspiring Presidents. A lot of progressives have a visceral aversion to him because he just looks and talks like a physical embodiment of “the system”.Personally, I really like Buttigieg. I like the fact that he’s polished, and can speak in long paragraphs. I also liked a lot of the policies he put forward during the primaries. I hope he runs in 2024. My gut tells me Biden will probably step down (he’ll be 82 by then, and who wants to vote for an 82 year old?), and Kamala Harris is so profoundly unlikable that she could probably lose to almost anyone. She’d definitely lose to Trump if he decides to run again. Pete’24!
Every single one of those candidates generated a ton of vitriol. He’s not unique in this at all.
I’m sure a significant amount of the vitriol aimed at Buttiegeg is based in bigotry or simply the cynical urge to attack anyone who has garnered some popularity. But its also true Mayor Pete sucks in some blatant ways. He’s a neo-liberal careerist who seems happy to align with whatever powerful interests that can facilitate his ascendancy. His response to race based issues as a mayor has been abysmal and his response to criticism was notably indifferent until he saw it was damaging his candidacy. He lies as easily as any politician and doesn’t shy from sleazy tactics. He does have what should be minimum requirements of a good politician — decent antennae for public sentiment and persuasive speaking skills — but disgenous phrases like “Medicare for all who want it” don’t inspire confidence that this person has any seriously held convictions.
I work in tech. When he was running for DNC chair he was pitching himself to all the VC billionaires in Silicon Valley and they all loved what he was selling them (a couple of them were non-stop talking about what a promising candidate “we” finally had at our holiday party). Huge red flags all around.
What’s astounding for me to see is how many people are buying what he’s selling— all I see and hear is how fake and practiced his persona is. It’s obvious he’s modeling himself after Bill Clinton and Obama (for that matter Tony Blair and Macron): a neoliberal statesman with soaring rhetoric, virtuous persona and a charming backstory, who horse whispers voters while catering to corporations and industry. It’s a model that works, which is why Mayor Pete is cynically adopting it, but the last thing we need imo is yet another Kennedy-esque politician with Reagan-esque ethos.
Yeah, plenty of people didn’t like him as a candidate for a whole host of reasons, and fair enough.But the actual vitriol, at least as it came from the left, I think stemmed from the fact that his candidacy seemed to directly rebut the notion that identity is one’s defining political attribute.Among gay men more specifically (and I say this as a gay man) I think the vitriol came from the not-insignificant number of gay men who believe that merely being gay is enough to make you interesting. Buttigieg was a direct threat to that sense of self.
I wouldn’t say that I was all that hyped for him, but I really do think people got completely unhinged about him. They acted like he was this grand betrayer of the gay cause, or not even gay at all, because he was…somewhat boring and worked for a consulting firm? We’re not all anarcho-communists, guys, some of us are cringe-ass nae nae libs–doesn’t mean he’s holding Chasten at gunpoint or whatever.
I seem to remember that pretty soon after he dropped out he guest-hosted one of the late night shows, and from the tone of the AV Club’s write-up you’d think they were watching a live-stream of him committing a war crime or something.
Yep and progressive queers get to be upset at not progressive queers
Yeah, it will be eternally disappointing to realise that true equality means your peers can turn around and become cynical and conservative. Every marginalised group has this reckoning at some point. It’s like mourning a terrible parent, missing when your identity was inherently radical.
the consulting firm in question is one of the most evil companies on the planet
They acted like he was this grand betrayer of the gay cause, or not even gay at all, because he was…somewhat boring and worked for a consulting firm?Exactly. A lot of the gays (and I say this as one of the gays) were not happy with Pete for exposing the fact that being gay alone does not make one interesting.
Pete should do an impression of all the Simpsons characters, that’s a good trick!
A trick is something a whore does for money. Impressions are . . . an illusion!
If I may add another thing for him to hurdle to win, his last name.
I thought the difficult spelling and pronunciation would be too difficult for voters (ahem, Americans) to choose among the easily read names like Harris, Biden, Warren and Sanders.
Yes, but that was overridden by his dominance of the monolithic Maltese-American voting bloc.
Man, that dude is such a piece of shit. He did an excellent job of making me hate him in that campaign
Aren’t we splitting hairs here. Seems like a nice guy. Smart and highly educated. Young too. Military. I mean really the bar seems pretty sub basement low now. He seems to clear it pretty easily. The worst thing is he is kinda boring and guarded. Oh and his last name is different. If only we were all so lucky.
the worst thing is that he lied about winning an election that he lost, and he was part of a coalition to stab the most progressive senator in the back. I hope mayor pete goes the way of bud Dwyer
He won the election by the standards of how that election has been judged for decades. He clearly won in the same way that presidential candidates who lose the popular vote but win the most electors win their elections. Moreover, it’s not like Sanders won the popular vote by some enormous margin: at final counting, Sanders only got 1.4% more of the vote than Buttigieg.
That is total BS, keep vouching for the party giving another tax cut to the rich and looking in your bank account.
Privileged narcissist with no particular values or convictions nonetheless wills a political career into existence. There, I saved you $10.
He did not win Iowa.
Mayor pete is such an evil piece of shit, you can see behind his eyes there is no soul.
Here’s the thing about Pete Buttigieg that went virtually unreported by the media, because – I think – if they had, it’d have been bad for their outrage business.I tracked his campaign for a while because I liked how moderate he is and I liked his story. So I ended up listening to and watching some right-wing media – occasionally hard-line outlets – when Pete would go on for an interview. He was the only candidate who did so for any reason besides a performative debate. There was one call-in show in particular on a heavily right-wing radio show in the Deep South that struck me. I wish I could remember the link to the audio. But Pete went on the show with that measured, even-keeled approach that everyone apparently finds so off-putting and absolutely won over everyone with his answers. He didn’t deflect, he didn’t gloss over anything – people asked him questions, some difficult ones at that, and he answered them as if the people he was talking to were his next-door neighbors instead of his ideological enemies. Even the people who continued to disagree with him after he answered seemed to be impressed by him, and at the end the host praised him pretty effusively for simply deciding that people in deep red territory were still worth engaging on a human level.That has never left me, especially after so many years of political trench warfare in the public domain. And it left me wondering whether it’s possible that someone on either side of the central dividing line could make some serious inroads nationally just by being willing to go on the record as valuing Americans equally even if they fell on different sides of a debate. I don’t know any current politician who could lay claim to that position.
Mayor Pete’s stance on most things was wishy washy and opportunistic and ultimately he just was too safe and guarded to differentiate himselfHaving said that, it’s kinda sad to see some many people who were for Bernie still so salty at him. Let it go y’all.
The most impressive thing about Pete Buttigieg is his ability to use so many words to say so little.
I don’t dislike Pete, but the way he put himself in the hands of Smith made him immediately suspect to me
Like always the AV Club is your go to place to see the boomerfication of Gen X and Elder Millennials in real time. Don’t be a bootlicker and if you are please simp for someone better than Mayo Pete.