Joe Biden Plans To Station Pete Buttigieg As US Ambassador In China

[RAMROD 117,032]

President-elect Joe Biden is considering a high-profile ambassadorship for Pete Buttigieg, possibly sending him to China, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.

Why it matters: The 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, whom Biden has compared to his late son, Beau, played a key role in Biden's nomination. Letting him deepen his foreign policy chops could boost Buttigieg's future, since many inside the Democratic Party believe his return as a presidential candidate is a matter of when, not if.

Buttigieg electrified donors and rocketed to the top of the party, winning the most delegates in the Iowa caucuses earlier this year before dropping out to consolidate moderates' support around Biden.

But finding a Cabinet position for him has been a challenge as the former VP focuses on nominating women and people of color to high-level posts.

China isn’t the only foreign post where Buttigieg, a polyglot, could end up — and his name remains under discussion for some domestic leadership positions as well.

The intrigue: The Beijing post has often gone to experienced politicians, toward the middle or end of their careers, as a way to confer respect to the Chinese.

A Buttigieg nomination would invert that model and give the Chinese an opportunity to get to know a potential future president. That happened with George H.W. Bush in 1974, when President Ford appointed him to the U.S. liaison office in Beijing.

Some of Buttigieg’s backers see a political upside to a domestic Cabinet role in which he can build his relationship with Black voters, who largely rejected his candidacy.

Letting him deepen his foreign policy chops could boost Buttigieg's future, since many inside the Democratic Party believe his return as a presidential candidate is a matter of when, not if. 

Sources:

 

https://www.axios.com/pete-buttigieg-china-ambassador-biden-80aa9cc5-35a2-4205-836a-ca11d8af8f07.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100

 

 

Get ready for your Democratic Party 2024 candidate y'all!! Looks like he is already groomed to be one.

[Blastertoyo 22,734]

Yas BootyGag

[StarstruckIllusion 53,564]

That... can’t be good??? 

[Guest Adarsh]

5 minutes ago, StarstruckIllusion said:

That... can’t be good??? 

Why???

[LilyLark 10,213]

1 minute ago, Adarsh said:

Why???

I don't hate Pete like 99% of the people on here, but he's not at all qualified for the position imo. In this current environment, China is such a massive, complex issue with everything from Hong Kong to their treatment of Uighurs. Sometimes ambassadorships are just fancy posting for donors & they don't do much...but sometimes the position is very important. Right now, with China, it's the latter. We need someone with a ton of experience with/in China imo.

Allegedly he was offered VA and had his name tossed around for transportation and commerce. All important positions but not great to build off for future presidential runs...and if he wants to run for president in the future he needs foreign policy experience. The ambassadorship to China is an easy way to the UN/NATO/State, which I'm guessing is his goal. I'm kind of surprised he didn't get like a deputy position at State.

[Guest Adarsh]

2 minutes ago, LilyLark said:

I don't hate Pete like 99% of the people on here, but he's not at all qualified for the position imo. In this current environment, China is such a massive, complex issue with everything from Hong Kong to their treatment of Uighurs. Sometimes ambassadorships are just fancy posting for donors & they don't do much...but sometimes the position is very important. Right now, with China, it's the latter. We need someone with a ton of experience with/in China imo.

Allegedly he was offered VA and had his name tossed around for transportation and commerce. All important positions but not great to build off for future presidential runs...and if he wants to run for president in the future he needs foreign policy experience. The ambassadorship to China is an easy way to the UN/NATO/State, which I'm guessing is his goal. I'm kind of surprised he didn't get like a deputy position at State.

That’s interesting. Thank you for explaining 

[Clarence 1,444]

phuck

[ctherainbow 3,162]

What?  That makes... very little sense.  I thought Biden was offering him either VA or Defense?

[Stupid Oreo 14,669]

Butt

[CameronSpears 2,128]

Really? Pete deserves better than that IMO.

Also wouldn't Pete need to move to China? I'd not be happy if I was Chasten just because I'd hate to have to leave everything.

[bionic 50,111]

4 hours ago, ctherainbow said:

What?  That makes... very little sense.  I thought Biden was offering him either VA or Defense?

VA is a dead end job that is extremely volatile, would be awful for Mayor Pete's career prospects. 

[bionic 50,111]

Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr served as Ambassador to China (under Obama) immediately prior to his failed 2012 presidential bid

[Pennywise 36,080]

Ew.

[JRCF29 8,230]

.

[Ziggy 14,028]

This is literally one of the worst appointments that could be made for Buttigieg. When you have relations between two countries at a critical juncture, you don’t send inexperienced people into the field to try to wade through the quagmire.

If this is just to give him foreign policy experience to run again that’s an insult to this post (which is a very very important one). Buttigieg doesn’t really have a big chance at becoming president. He doesn’t. He won’t make gains with Black voters and he routinely annoys the left who were able to swallow Biden for getting rid of Trump, but would not have under other circumstances. So he could get the nomination maybe but the turnout will almost certainly not be anything remarkable. As the party shifts left, Pete is too much an Obama type for a party that is rapidly moving past the Obama era. Putting the party’s future on this guy is not surprising in the least but it is incredibly harmful to the party’s success going forward. The dem strategists are showing, once again, how out of touch they are by sincerely thinking folks voted for Biden because they like Biden and not because they’d have even voted for Alf if it meant getting Trump out of the White House. They’re banking their future success off of disenchanted republicans coming into the party’s middle when that’s more of an unrealistic pipe dream.

It’s nothing to do with liking him or not. It’s looking at the broader trends and seeing the trajectories start to take shape.