In the last debate, Buttigieg delivered this astounding (and obviously rehearsed) line to try to paint Bernie Sanders’ activism in a negative light, and his campaign team liked it so much they copied it into a tweet (since deleted):
We can’t afford a scenario where it comes down to Donald Trump with his nostalgia for the social order of the 1950’s and Bernie Sanders with his nostalgia for the revolutionary politics of the 1960’s. #DemDebate
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 20, 2020
Here’s him delivering the line in the actual debate:
As can be seen in the video, when it was Bernie’s turn to respond, Pete created more frustration than a dozen Amy Klobuchars could even dream of by continuously attempting to interrupt Bernie. I wonder if he was realizing as Bernie was answering that despite the positive reaction from the crowd (that paid $1,800-$3,000 a seat to attend) he made a mistake and kept talking through Bernie so people would be distracted against Pete getting a verbal beatdown.
Because what he said was a mistake. The revolutionary politics of the ’60s were responsible for Stonewall, leading toward gay rights, and considering they were debating for the interests of the people of South Carolina, for the black activism of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act along with the elimination of Jim Crow laws.
The female, POC, and/or LGBT candidates we’ve had over the past multiple decades, including Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Ted Cruz, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete himself wouldn’t even be allowed near these debate stages if not for the work accomplished in the 1960s.
And Pete should be well aware that work is not yet done, just based on his own performance in South Bend, Indiana, especially if the claims are true that he fired the black police chief of that city for investigating racist corruption within the department, or that he, disproportionately compared to white families, demolished dozens or even hundreds of homes owned by black families.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has spent all of his life, since he marched alongside Dr. King in the ’60s, continuing the mission of those 1960s revolutionary politics by fighting for the underserved, underprivileged, and economically disadvantaged.
What’s Pete trying to argue here? That he offers the middle ground between “POC/LGBT/women/poor people deserve equality” and “let’s keep oppressing them”? What does that look like?
Let’s get back to the what spurred Pete delivering that line: criticism over Bernie acknowledging that Cuba has done something positive for their country despite any of their other problematic aspects. Bernie was right in that Obama, a moderate, essentially said the same thing he did.
I can only interpret this exchange as Pete being disingenuous, as usual.