𝗣𝗘𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗘𝗚 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

 

Pete Buttigieg

As a much younger man, I admit to being mesmerised by Republican wordsmith William F. Buckley, Jr., who could turn a phrase like no other, utilizing five dollar words few understood.

Buckley intimidated with his tongue and laughed about it until his famous 1965 debate on racism with Black author James Baldwin, equally facile with words.  

Decades ago, I was taught that communication was a "meeting of the minds," for one mind to know what was in the mind of another or for one mind to transmit that thought to another.

While Bill Perkins, my friend from years ago, told me "don't tone yourself down Jim.  If we don't know the word, we'll look it up," my late wife told me the opposite: "no one knows what you're saying."

Enter Pete Buttigieg, a communicator who makes himself heard and understood, answers complex-compound questions with aplomb and precision and, most of all, calmness.

Buttigieg articulates clearly, incorporating a sense of humor and obvious modesty into thoughtful, immediate answers.

No "loaded" question triggers him beyond a smile as the answers are still careful, factual and unemotional.  

I don't know what role Buttigieg will have in a Harris presidency, but he's certainly raised the bar for the way a candidate, office holder or government official communicates.