Back home in South Bend, Buttigieg faces 'his nightmare'

[DonViejo]

By Wesley Lowery June 19 at 7:42 PM

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In recent weeks, Pete Buttigieg had emerged as the surprise success of the 2020 presidential campaign. Polls showed him surging in key states, enchanted Democrats were forking over millions of dollars, and his husband, Chasten, had accumulated more than 340,000 followers on Twitter.

Then came bad news from South Bend, the town Buttigieg leads as mayor. A white police officer had shot and killed a black man early Sunday. Buttigieg canceled several days of campaign events — including an LGBTQ gala in New York — and rushed back to Indiana to “be with the South Bend community,” in the words of a campaign spokesman.

Instead of showcasing But­tigieg’s ability to lead through a crisis, however, the shooting is exposing what has long been considered an Achilles’ heel of his candidacy: his frosty relationship with South Bend’s black residents. Since arriving on Sunday, Buttigieg has alienated the family of the dead man, Eric Logan, 54, skipped a vigil at the scene of the shooting, and sought advice from outsiders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.

On Wednesday, Buttigieg finally made his first extended public remarks about the shooting, appearing at South Bend police headquarters to lecture the city’s new cadet class about the importance of turning on their body cameras when they interact with members of the public. During Sunday’s shooting, the officer’s camera had been turned off.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/back-home-in-south-bend-buttigieg-faces-his-nightmare/2019/06/19/d29c0b50-92bc-11e9-b58a-a6a9afaa0e3e_story.html

[marylandblue]

1. Well that's unfortunate. I'm not going to pretend that this story isn't bad for my candidate.

If the local AA community isn't happy with him, he can't win.

[Locrian]

2. yeah this really sucks

SB has a bad history of race / police issues

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/south-bend-officer-shooting-racism-allegations_n_5d09163fe4b0f7b74427a997

[RLG]

3. So much for the African American vote.

nt

[customerserviceguy]

4. If he can pass this test

then he will show that he's ready for primetime. If not, then his day will come in the future.

[peggysue2]

5. This is definitely an unfortunate incident

Ill-timed for Buttigieg but I think the fact he left the campaign trail immediately to address the incident and speak to those involved might offer an opportunity, too. These are the sort of things you cannot prepare for, so his performance and the general impression he makes is important for his city and his presidential run.

I wish him good wishes in the endeavor. Not easy.

[rogue emissary]

6. The guy that ran to Fox news.

Cause it's so critical to reach out to Donny voters. Couldn't be bothered to attend a vigil.

This is why he had zero percent in a recent poll with African Americans.

I tried pointing out that it wasn't just homophobia as why he does poorly with the African American community. Yet his supporters kept saying he'd learn, he'd get better.

So is this the best he can do?

[Tarheel_Dem]

7. Unfortunate, but Mayor Pete could emerge from this incident an even stronger contender.

I hope he has good advisors around him, plus he already seems to have pretty keen innate political skills. It won't be easy, but if he can forge some relationships with this community, it will go a long way to boosting his prospects nationally. The only drawback is that it can't seem nakedly political. Otherwise, I would advise him to make a race speech similar to that of Obama during the run-up to 2008.