Mayor Pete's Wild Ride

Sun turnin' 'round with graceful motion
We're setting off with soft explosion
Bound for a star with fiery oceans
It's so very lonely, you're a hundred light years from home

~~ "2000 Light Years From Home" by The Rolling Stones

Pete's Rules of the Road

Not quite a year ago, I waited in line on a cold, rainy April day. A bunch of us were waiting together and despite the weather, the mood was happy and excited. An occasional person came by to pass out stickers and buttons. When the doors finally opened and we got into the venue, it wasn't much warmer, but at least we were out of the wind and rain. 

We were in a large space in one of the old Studebaker buildings. Part of the building had been renovated but not this area. Rusty beams traversed the high ceiling and water ran down some of the walls. As the song says, "We're packed pretty tight in here tonight," so it wasn't freezing cold. But it was damp and chilly and we had a while to wait. 

A large American flag was draped on one of the side walls. A stage and podium surrounded by risers stood and waited for occupants. The backdrop of the stage was a large banner stating "Pete 2020." We were there to see our two-term Mayor make a big announcement and it was no big secret what it was: our Mayor Pete was running for President. We waited through a few speakers and then it was time to hear from Pete. 

Even though we knew what was coming, when he said the words it made me cry: 

"My name is Pete Buttigieg. They call me Mayor Pete. I'm a proud son of South Bend. And I am running for President of the United States." 

In the subsequent months, I watched as people got to know the person I'd come to love and respect as my Mayor. His intelligence, his eloquence, his empathy, his pragmatism, his ability to throw shade when it needed to be thrown. Town halls, debates, media appearances every time you turned around (thanks to Lis Smith, his brilliant Communications Director), a whirlwind of events as he tried to talk to as many people as possible. In that entire time, I never saw him get rattled or flustered or lose control. As a Navy intelligence officer, I think it can definitely be said that he has an even keel. 

We saw him win—by the narrowest of margins, but a win nonetheless—Iowa and place a close second in New Hampshire. Then came Nevada and South Carolina, states where he didn't do as well. 

Last night, Mayor Pete's Wild Ride came to an end right where it started, here in South Bend. He and his campaign looked at the math and concluded that it just didn't add up to stay in. So right before Super Tuesday, he ended his campaign. If I had to speculate, I would guess that it was a combination of three things. 

1. He saw the fractured field and for the good of the party, he dropped out in order for his supporters to coalesce around one of the other moderate candidates. 

2. There were some dealings made between either another campaign or the DNC. 

3. His campaign was running out of money. Pete and Chasten are middle-class Midwesterners and far from millionaires, let alone billionaires. No self-funding there. 

So we are at the end of this run. However, this is actually the start of a new chapter for our Mayor Pete. As one website put it, "This is what a rising star looks like." I don't know what is in store for him in the future, but I know that he and Chasten had better put on their shades because I do know that it's a bright one. As the song above says, "Bound for a star with fiery oceans." 

While I'm sad, and I was practically in mourning last night, I know this isn't the end for Pete. He's got a lot left to do for this country and I know he will serve his country well. He will answer the call when it is made. 

Please allow me a moment of reflection. The graphic up at the top is Pete's "Rules of the Road." That's what his campaign workers and supporters signed up for. Pete's current campaign might be over, but those Rules are going to stay with me. We simply must remember the main goal for this 2020 election: make this current "president" a one-termer. Do not get lost in the weeds. It is possible to stay passionate without trashing other candidates. I struggle with that at times, but I try my best not to say it publicly! We can do this. We need to do this. Think of American livers everywhere. Please save our livers! 

I hope I get to see Pete downtown once in a while this summer. I hope I get to thank him. I'm a proud daughter of South Bend, and Pete...you made us all proud. 

Let's talk about Pete, baby

Baby, can you dig your man?
He's a righteous man

~~ Larry Underwood in The Stand

There's a lot going on in our little corner of the universe, and I'll talk about that eventually. But right now, I want to talk (again) about Mayor Pete Buttigieg. 

I've written about him before (here and here), but it's been a while. The last time I wrote about him was when he had formed an exploratory committee about running for president. My goodness, things have certainly changed since then! 

I have always felt that as soon as people started hearing him speak and hearing what he had to say, they would like him. That is exactly what has happened. He has a calming presence that is so needed to counter the current occupant of the White House, and I think that is resonating with people. It is no surprise to me that the people in Iowa are really starting to dig our man. I have always considered myself a "pragmatic progressive," or you could also go with "progressive pragmatist." It's a midwestern thing. We see the ideal goals but we know that people are resistant to seismic changes, and sometimes the best way to get shit done is to nudge people along rather than push them off the cliff. 

We saw it with the Affordable Care Act. Would a public option have been ideal? Yes. But we couldn't get it done. Ten years later, the ACA is still the law, and premiums are starting to go down. Most importantly, people have finally come to the realization that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. And want to keep the ACA, despite the continued efforts of the Republicans to gut the law or negate it entirely. Good luck with that! A public option (Medicare For All Who Want It) is exactly what Pete is proposing and it seems to be a reasonable way to get us to Medicare For All. 

Anyway, I am a product of my midwestern upbringing, and so is Mayor Pete. That's why he appealed to me from the beginning, and I believe that is why he is appealing to so many across the country. It's not just the pragmatic part, either. There is a positivity to him that is also needed to counteract against the extreme negativity of the current resident. I feel it in my bones that people need that and need to feel a sense of optimism and inclusion rather than being scared to death of the entire world, including anyone who is a little different from them. 

And how refreshing is it to hear someone who can put together a logical, intelligent sentence? I never realized how much I craved lucidity until I had to hear Individual-1 speak. Good grief, is it too much to ask to have the leader of the free world NOT sound like a moron? We need to raise that bar again.

So here we are, about 100 days out from the Iowa caucus. I was pretty thrilled several months ago when Pete polled at 11% in an Iowa poll. Now it is looking very possible that he could actually—dare I say it?—WIN IOWA. This is astounding, exciting, and almost overwhelming. I am just so thrilled that others are hearing his message and are feeling the same inspiration that it has been my pleasure to feel for the past eight years. 

I don't know what will happen. But I am definitely feeling a sense of hope and change that I haven't felt for a while. Like for about 11 years. 

Stupid purity tests

The world's goin' crazy and
Nobody gives a damn anymore
And they're breakin' off relationships and
Leavin' on sailin' ships for far and distant shores
The old world's fadin'
Now it seems so far away
Well, I'm not goin' anywhere
There's so much that we can share
I'm your brother

"Brother" by The Kinks

The last time I wrote about Mayor Pete, it was when he first announced. A lot has happened since then! 

I've always maintained that anyone who listens to Mayor Pete comes away impressed. It's impossible not to. We're seeing it play out every day. The most hilarious moment for me was when he was on "Morning Joe" and managed to get Mika and Joe to shut up for once. It was a thing of beauty! I have friends far and wide who are loving him and excited about him. Can we keep his momentum going? Yes, we can! 

Tomorrow we will be heading downtown to see him formally announce his run for the presidency. I am so excited and I think it's going to be quite a celebration! I hope to get lots of pics and video. 

The big news this week, what kept Mayor Pete on the media radar, was some of the stuff he said about VP (and former Indiana Governor) Mike Pence. Pete spoke about his own faith and contrasted the faith of Pence and his support of the "porn star president." I've had a hard time understanding how those same evangelical Christians who have told me I'm going to hell for drinking or smoking or swearing or any other litany of supposed sins could support a guy who obviously is—at least to some of us—the antithesis of those who do good in the name of their faith. So it's been refreshing to see Pete call them out on it and watch them squirm. 

Unfortunately, I am now seeing some people on the left who are dismissing Mayor Pete because of his faith. Seriously? The guy wants to help the least among us by good policies and you're going to automatically count him out simply because he believes in God? It drives me crazy when I see those polls that show that a big majority of people will never vote for an atheist, as if people can't have compassion, empathy, and intelligence if they don't believe in any sort of deity. And now these people are doing the same damn thing. Idiots. 

Let me tell you something. When Ken and I were in Florida and he got really sick and spent a month in the hospital, we had people lighting candles for us at the Grotto at Notre Dame. We had people praying for us. Do I think that any sort of deity intervened and made Ken get better? Nope. I chalk that up to modern medicine, doctors, nurses, support techs, and powerful chemotherapy drugs. But you know what? The fact that people cared enough about us to try to send us strength and positive energy meant the world to both of us. I don't think I've ever had a candle lit for me and it honestly made me feel pretty good. All of that positive energy helped us know that we had a lot of people pulling for us and willing to help us. 

We both vowed that we would never dismiss or discount anyone's beliefs even if we didn't share them. Because of their faith, these people cared about us and wanted us to be okay. That meant a lot. 

For me, it doesn't matter anymore what causes a person to arrive at a point of service and compassion. What matters is that they care about their fellow human beings and want to do what they can to help others. 

Mayor Pete is a person of faith. He believes in God, he goes to church, he married Chasten in a church. He is also a progressive Democrat who believes that government can do good for all people, with good policies. He absolutely understands the importance of the separation of church and state and he condemns those who cause harm to others in the name of their religion. 

If you won't vote for him because he's a person of faith, you need to pull your smug head out of your self-righteous ass and get a grip. If you have that kind of a "purity test," you're just as bad as all those pious jerks on the religious right. We have a "president" who is causing real harm to people, around the world and right here in our own country. The primary goal is to boot his ass out of the Oval and get someone in there who will treat people with fairness and compassion. 

Look at the policies! Is a candidate going to promote fair and reasonable policies? Just because someone believes in God doesn't mean that they are going to promote their religion. Eyes on the prize, people! 

Don't fuck this up, Democrats. There is way too much at stake. Including my liver and my mental health. The damage to both, as well as our country, is great. Can we really stand four more years of it? Stop 👏 this 👏 shit 👏 now 👏!

Movin' on up

Now we're up in the big leagues
Getting our turn at bat 

~~ Theme from "The Jeffersons"

Lordy, what a day! 

Day 33 of the federal government shitdown shutdown. Workers are going to go for a month without a paycheck and our airports, our borders, and our country are all less safe because of Individual-1's petulant temper tantrum.

Venezuela cuts diplomatic ties with the United States and orders all U.S. diplomats out within 72 hours.

Michael Cohen postpones his testimony before the House Oversight Committee due to threats to his family from Individual-1 and his TV lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Individual-1 says, "Imma do the State of the Union in the House of Representative." 

Speaker Pelosi says, "LOL No." 

My head is spinning! It's easy to become inured to the utterly chaotic news cycle because it just never stops. However, today I had a vaccination against the chaos and it came this morning. 

My very own Mayor, Pete Buttigieg (say it like 'Buddha Judge'), announced that he has formed an exploratory committee concerning a run for President of the United States. 

Translation: HE'S RUNNING! He really is!

It's been looking that way for a while, but how exciting to hear that it's happening for real! I am thrilled. 

I've been preaching about Mayor Pete for years. I've told friends all over the country to watch this guy because he's going to be President one day. After this morning's announcement, I had friends telling me, "I thought of you when I heard!" I've been on Cloud Nine all day!

So what is it about Mayor Pete that I (and so many of my fellow citizens) love? There are many, but I'll give you three. 

I was impressed from the very first moment I met him. Ken and I were at the local Firefighter's Blues Festival and it was when Pete was first running for Mayor. I had read some articles about him in our local paper, the South Bend Tribune, and I'd liked what he had to say. Ken and I were sitting there in our lounge chairs drinking our beers and I saw Pete working his way through the crowd and shaking hands. I elbowed Ken and said, "Hey, that's Pete Buttigieg! Wanna say hi?" We stood and waited for him to make his way over and we shook hands and chatted a bit. He is not a large man but despite his slight frame, he has a real presence. He was open and friendly and there was just something about him that left us both saying, "Wow." That was when I started thinking that this guy was meant for big things. 

The second thing is what he has done as Mayor of South Bend. I was born here and grew up here (same for Pete) and many of my family members worked for Studebaker. My grandpa, several uncles, and my Aunt June, who did payroll and was one of the last few employees after the plant shut down. The factory buildings cleared out and Aunt June helped various desks go to local schools. We had a huge old Studebaker desk for many years and my cousins and I had all kinds of Studebaker stationery to doodle on. (If we had only known how much that stuff would be worth one day!)

But I digress. After Studebaker shut down, it devastated our town. People lost their pensions (in fact, it was due to the Studebaker plant closing that government protections were put in place to ensure that workers would have guaranteed pensions), people started moving away, and the suicide rate shot up. The malaise continued for decades. When I was in high school, there were a couple of malls built in the area and it siphoned off all of the commerce from downtown. It's not an exaggeration to say that our downtown was a ghost town. Everything was closed and shuttered, all the stores and restaurants closed or moved elsewhere, and no one went there. 

When Pete Buttigieg came on the scene and decided to run for Mayor, Newsweek included us in an article about America's "dying cities." Pete had plenty of ideas about how to make a difference, and when he got elected, he started implementing them. He went about working to reinvent us as more of a "tech hub," rather than a manufacturing city. People started investing time and money in our city and some highly motivated Notre Dame students saw the potential and decided to stick around and make a difference. 

To make a long story short, our downtown is bustling, there are numerous restaurants (from burger joints to some of the best restaurants in town), there is an active music scene, and we've gone from a ghost town to it can be hard to find a parking place when things are going on! It is a complete turnaround from what it was like when I was growing up and I am proud to take out of town friends downtown and show off our city! Mayor Pete was a revitalizing force behind this and helped make our city friendly to business and tourism. 

Third, in 2016, he invited his supporters to a Christmas party at a pub downtown. We attended with Shane and Matt, and it was the first time we'd gotten together since the presidential election. Needless to say, we were all pretty down. Pete and Chasten came by to say hi and thank us for coming, and I asked Pete, "How do we deal with this? This is awful." 

I don't remember his exact words, but he talked about how we need to focus on what is right and continue to speak out and be involved. He agreed that it was pretty awful but said that we all need to stick together and support each other and keep working to make things better. When he and Chasten finally walked away to talk to other groups, we all looked at each other and said, "Whoa!" Somehow he had managed to make us feel optimistic during a very dark time. We were all worried about various rights, not just for us, but for others. But with a few words, Mayor Pete left us feeling better. 

I could write about more things and probably will in the future, but this is long enough. As I've told people for years, check this guy out because he's the real deal. 

I don't know what will happen but I look forward to seeing everything play out and I especially look forward to seeing other people around the country get to hear his ideas and get to know him. If you are interested in that, please check out his website, PeteForAmerica. Click on the "Meet Pete" tab to get a brief bio. Good luck, Mayor Pete! We are with you!