Time - International (2019-12-02)

Time December 2–9, 2019

TheBrief News

STafferS on compeTing DemocraTic

campaigns have quietly snarked about South

Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg for months.

They’ve called him Sneaky Pete or Mayor

McKinsey because of his ties to the business

community or Cream of Pete because he’s so

Midwestern white. But now that the millen-

nial mayor has surged to first place in Iowa—

a Nov. 16 Des Moines Register poll had 25%

of likely caucusgoers listing him as their first

choice, leading Elizabeth Warren, Bernie

Sanders and Joe Biden by roughly 10 points—

all that once private griping is going public.

In recent weeks, high-ranking Democrats

have openly attacked Buttigieg as having a

flimsy résumé, uncool fan base and lack of

support among voters of color and being in-

sufficiently progressive.

The most repeated point of criticism is

Buttigieg’s relative inexperience, especially

compared with many of the women and non-

white candidates in the race. Senator Amy

Klobuchar suggested that if she or other fe-

male candidates had Buttigieg’s résumé, “I

don’t think people would take us seriously.”

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro regis-

tered a similar complaint: “We could almost

fit South Bend in our Alamodome in San An-

tonio,” said the two-term Texas mayor. Sena-

tor Kamala Harris, who spent 20 years rising

through the ranks in California before be-

T R AV E L

Keep it moving

Australian airline Qantas completed the longest nonstop commercial test flight, from London to

Sydney in just over 19 hours, on Nov. 15. Here, more long hauls. ÑRachael Bunyan

BORN TO RUN

Ultramarathoner Dean

Karnazes ran 350 continuous

miles across California over

three days in October 2005.

He didn’t stop to eat or sleep

during his run, which lasted

80 hr. 44 min.

PLAIN SAILING

Adventurer Reid Stowe returned

to New York Harbor in 2010

after spending more than three

years sailing around the world.

At 1,152 days, his trip marked

the longest nonstop ocean

voyage in recorded history.

SWIMMINGLY

In September, American Sarah

Thomas became the first person

to swim the English Channel

four times nonstop. It took

Thomas—who’d completed

treatment for cancer a year

before—just over 54 hours.

NEWS

TICKER

Deadly clashes

in Bolivia

crisis

Human-rights groups

condemned a Nov. 

decree by Bolivia’s

interim leader, Jeanine

Áñez, giving the armed

forces legal immunity

for acts committed

while “restoring order”

after the ouster of

leftist President Evo

Morales. Since Áñez

took office on Nov. 12,

clashes between

security forces and

Morales supporters

have killed at least 20.

Chief Justice

issues stay on

Trump taxes

Days after President

Trump’s lawyers asked

the U.S. Supreme Court

to stop his tax returns

from being released,

Chief Justice John

Roberts on Nov. 

temporarily blocked

a Court of Appeals

order that would have

required Trump to turn

over his tax returns to

Congress.

Gantz fails

to form a

government

Israel remained without

a new government

after Blue and White

party chief Benny Gantz

announced on Nov. 

that he could not form

a coalition. With Prime

Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu having

already failed, the odds

rose of yet another

election, the country’s

third in 12 months. The

most recent ballot was

Sept. 17.

coming the first African-American woman

elected state attorney general in 2010, dis-

missed him as simply “naive.” Others have

complained that the 37-year-old gay veteran

has received an avalanche of positive press—

far more than his competitors. “It’s the em-

bodiment of the adage that men can have

potential and women have to have met it,”

says Christina Reynolds, a spokesperson for

Emily’s List, an advocacy group that works to

elect pro-choice Democratic women.

Buttigieg spokesperson Chris Meagher

downplayed fellow Democrats’ irritation with

the rising star. “We get it,” he said. “We’re

the outsider upsetting the apple cart.” But

Buttigieg’s many Democratic critics aren’t let-

ting up. His campaign has come under fire for

its failure to win over black voters, a crucial

segment of the Democratic base. (He’s cur-

rently polling at 0% among black voters in

South Carolina, according to a Nov. 18 Quin-

nipiac poll.) And progressive groups are at-

tacking Buttigieg’s comparatively moderate

agenda. Justice Democrats has slammed the

mayor for refusing to commit to policies like

Medicare for All, which young people tend

to support, while claiming to represent gen-

erational change. “You can’t weaponize your

millennial identity against us,” says Justice

Democrats spokesman Waleed Shahid.

Strategists warn that as long as Buttigieg’s

star is on the rise, the friendly fire will con-

tinue. “He’s been attacking a lot of his op-

ponents for a while now without having any

real incoming,” says progressive strategist

Rebecca Katz. The Pete pile-on, she says, is

“long overdue.” —charloTTe alTer

GOOD QUESTION

Why are Democrats

attacking Pete

Buttigieg?

8