Please, Put Poor Pete Out To Pasture
- January 13, 2023
During the 2020 presidential primary, candidate Joe Biden released a video savaging former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for his lack of competence and relevant experience for the White House. Over and over again, Biden’s video highlighted how the onetime Democratic mayor of South Bend accomplished little, mostly making cosmetic changes to the small, slightly run-down Midwestern city where he had grown up.
The video was removed after Biden won the 2020 election and named Buttigieg secretary of transportation, a position he still holds. But that old video is highly relevant given recent events.
Meanwhile, the nation’s transportation infrastructure under his charge has plunged into chaos. He is usually nowhere to be found. During his controversial leave from the position he sought, he avoided meetings with members of Congress despite claiming he would be “available 24/7.” It seems as though there is a pattern — if there is a cheap cosmetic move he can make to garner attention, he’s there, but if he’s needed to do something substantive, he is AWOL.