We have nothing against South Bend, Indiana. In fact, two members of our opinion staff were born and raised in that city. But we all know that it’s no proving ground for the presidency. More generally speaking, service as a small-town mayor is not in itself sufficient training for the Oval Office.
Pete Buttigieg, who served two terms as the mayor of Indiana’s fourth-largest city, begs to differ. “Pragmatic and value-driven leadership — it’s what mayors practice every day,” he said in September. “We need a lot more of that in Washington right now.” The following month, Buttigieg said, “There’s no job quite like the presidency, but, when it comes to preparing for the presidency, I think there’s no job quite like being a mayor.”
“The kind of reality checks that you face as a mayor, on the ground, facing some of the toughest problems in policy and the toughest problems that Americans deal with that are at stake in these choices, that’s exactly the perspective we need to bring to Washington,” he said last month.
Small-town city government is a noble vocation, but Buttigieg is really asking a lot of his listeners. First, there is his actual record, which is spotty. For example, South Bend’s violent crime increased by 70% in the years following Buttigieg’s election, even as crime decreased nationally and increased by only about 10% statewide.
Second, there is the fact that Buttigieg’s highest winning vote total as mayor was about 11,000.
There is also the central question of whether being the mayor of South Bend or of any small town qualifies someone to sit behind the Resolute Desk. Not to insult or degrade the work of small-town mayors, as former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign did this month, but the answer is: not really.
As South Bend’s mayor, Buttigieg tackled the surprisingly contentious issue of pet chip scanners within city limits, but that doesn’t mean he is prepared now to tackle Iran, Russia, or North Korea. He may have presided over a successful redesign of South Bend’s flag — the new one really is an improvement — but that does not qualify Buttigieg to hold the nuclear codes. He may have succeeded in making the local drivers tolerate roundabouts, but that does not qualify Buttigieg to lead his party through tough negotiations with the Republican opposition.
As the former mayor of a town of roughly 100,000, Buttigieg understands how the removal of one-way designations from downtown streets can make them safer and better for local businesses. That does not mean that Buttigieg is prepared now to lead a country of 330 million people. The budget of South Bend was estimated at $388 million in 2019, whereas the federal budget is about 12,000 times that amount.
The role that Buttigieg served in South Bend was a good one, which anyone should be proud to fill, but it is simply fantasy to suggest that the skill set he learned there prepared him for the White House. Sen. Amy Klobuchar had a point when she said that no woman with qualifications as thin as Buttigieg’s would be standing on the presidential debate stage. The amazing thing, however, is that even a man with such thin qualifications would be suffered to stand there.
America has elected inexperienced presidents before. Weirder things have happened, even just recently, but, when the former mayor claims that his service in South Bend has prepared him for the presidency, one can only wonder whether he’s been spending too much time at the Linebacker.
[Read more: ‘Tired of being reduced to a punchline’: Buttigieg indirectly addresses Biden ad attacking experience]
