At last night’s Democratic presidential primary debate, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg sometimes struggled for attention in a debate that often featured points of conflict between his rivals.
Perhaps his strongest moment came when he described how, as a military veteran who is vocal about his faith, he could stand up to Trump in a general election.
“I’m ready to take on Donald Trump because when he gets to the tough talk and the chest thumping, he’ll have to stand next to an American war veteran and explain how he pretended bone spurs made him ineligible to serve,” Buttigieg said. “And if a guy like Donald Trump keeps trying to use religion to somehow recruit Christianity into the GOP, I will be standing there not afraid to talk about a different way to answer the call of faith and insist that God does not belong to a political party.”
Buttigieg and California businessman Tom Steyer tried to argue that their outside-the-Beltway resumes would be benefits in the Oval Office.
“What we are hearing is 20 years of mistakes by the American government in the Middle East,” Steyer said. “It’s time for someone from the outside having a strategic view on what we’re trying to do.”
Buttigieg, a 37-year-old who served as a military intelligence officer in Afghanistan, cast foreign policy as part of his generational argument.
“There are enlisted people I serve with barely old enough to remember some of those votes,” he said after Biden and Sanders talked about their 17-year-old Iraq war votes.
He said he favored maintaining a small military presence in the Middle East.
“I bring a different perspective,” said Buttigeg. “We can continue to remain engaged without having an endless commitment to ground troops.”
Emma Atkinson contributed to this post.