Are you wondering what it is exactly that seems so unsettling or "off" about Pete Buttigieg, but are having trouble putting your finger on it? Nathan J. Robinson, Editor in Chief of Current Affairs, nails it in his outstanding oped, "More About Pete" (07 February 2020).

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(Thanks to OEN member Helen Carpenter for posting a link to Robinson's first article about Buttigieg.)

Are you wondering what it is exactly that seems so unsettling and "off" about Pete Buttigieg, but having trouble putting your finger on it?

Nathan J. Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of Current Affairs nails it in his outstanding oped, More About Pete (07 February 2020).

Robinson deftly offers a multitude of reasons for not being able to shake off that weasely feeling about Mayor Pete (apologies to actual weasels.)

"It is a sad reflection on American politics that Pete Buttigieg is taken seriously as a presidential contender. After all, the question voters should ask themselves when choosing a candidate is: What have you done with your life that can give me confidence you mean what you say? Every politician will tell you what you want to hear at election time"

Pete Buttigieg, as I have documented at length before, has spent his life doing little more than try to advance himself to higher and higher levels of status and power. When he was at Harvard, he passed by the "social justice warriors" (his term) fighting to get a living wage for the school's janitors, so that he could go and have pizza with governors and media elites.

As a newly minted Rhodes Scholar, with the privilege to do almost anything in the world, he chose to go to McKinsey, a totally amoral consulting firm that advises dictators and drug companies on how to optimize their evil"

"Mayor Pete's oft-discussed "black voter problem" is better described as "the fact that black people, having had to live in a racist world, are often able to see through white lies," and know when yet another white person is bullshitting them with opportunistic empathy"

"It is very plain that Buttigieg is a corporate candidate. He has dozens of billionaire donors, and is heavily backed by lobbyists, pharmaceutical executives, and finance executives. (The list is a who's who of the American power elite.) He tried to disguise who his donors are, selectively disclosing them in order to hide the Wall Street fat cats, only opening up access to his fundraisers after months of pressure for transparency. ..

Why support someone who gives no reason to trust that he cares about anything other than his career?

Read more at More About Pete. Robinson was on to Mayor Pete's shenanigans and presented them beautifully in his first installment, All About Pete nearly a year ago (29 March 2019.)

Nathan J. Robinson is Editor-in-Chief of Current Affairs, a "bimonthly print magazine of culture, politics, and the absurd with two missions: to produce the world's first readable political publication and to make life joyful again." They also offer a biweekly podcast. Their office is located in New Orleans.

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.