The Pete Buttigieg boom

[applegrove]

The Pete Buttigieg boomHow the mayor of South Bend became a surprisingly serious contender in the 2020 Democratic primary race.

By Zack Beauchamp at Vox

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/4/3/18282638/pete-buttigieg-mayor-pete-pronounce-explained

"SNIP....

But his most interesting idea, which he detailed in an interview with the Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan, is to radically overhaul the Supreme Court.

“One solution that I’ve been discussing in recent weeks is structuring it with 15 members, but five of whom can only be seated by a unanimous consensus of the other 10,” he said to Hasan. “Anything that would make a Supreme Court vacancy less of an apocalyptic ideological struggle would be an improvement.”

This answer — one of the more radical plans for changing the Supreme Court I’ve seen from a mainstream political figure — speaks to the heart of Buttigieg’s political appeal among the Democratic base. He addresses the broader Democratic Party’s sense of being victimized by a system that favors Republicans and by a party willing to play hardball in pushing voter ID laws, gerrymandering, and the theft of Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court seat.

Buttigieg might be a quiet and reserved guy, but he embodies a kind of political boldness. Rather than forge a policy compromise with Republicans, he wants to transform ideas and structures that define American politics. If Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a class warrior, Pete Buttigieg is a partisan warrior.


.....SNIP"

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. His ideas seem really sensible to me, and, I hope, many Americans. n/t

[marylandblue]

2. "By standard measures, he shouldn't be doing that well"

Jennifer Victor, a political scientist at George Mason University, tells me. “By standard measures, he shouldn’t be doing that well, but I think American presidential primary politics are well beyond standard measures.”


This is exactly what his supporters are seeing. If this were a normal year, he'd be a quixotic candidate polling at 0 and getting no media coverage.

But this isn't a normal year and he is not a normal candidate. We need new approaches. The same thinking that got us into this problem won't get us out.

[customerserviceguy]

3. It's certainly out-of-the-box thinking

but as a practical matter, does anybody really think that there are five people in the world, let alone the nation, that both Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg could agree on?

The system that has been in place for over two centuries vests the power to pick SCOTUS Justices solely in the hands of the executive branch, and the upper house of the legislative branch. Having no power to do anything about those choices means that the highest level of the judicial branch is left with no option other than accepting a new Justice.

Fooling around with that may produce some unwanted consequences.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. You may be entirely right. However, I think it's a good idea to kick around...

and see what options there are to reduce the chances of mischief.