New Book Details Obama's Comments on Buttigieg: Babyfaced, 'Short' and 'Gay'

A new book on Joe Biden's successful run for President of the United States claims that in 2019 Barack Obama dismissed Pete Buttigieg's chances, saying that the out former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, couldn't win because he looked too young, wasn't tall enough, and was openly gay.

An excerpt from Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes' book "Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency" appeared in political news outlet The Hill the Friday before the book's March 2 publication.

The Hill explains that the excerpt recounted comments Obama made at an "October 2019 meeting in New York City with a group of powerful Black donors from the corporate world." In the course of "tak[ing] a few questions," Obama painted Warren as the ideal candidate to retake the White House for the Democrats, and then added that his encomium was "not an endorsement" for Warren - though it clearly was.

When Obama was asked about Buttigieg, the former president dismissed him, book relates, on these grounds:

" ''He's thirty- eight,' Obama said, pausing for dramatic effect, 'but he looks thirty.' The audience laughed. Obama was on a roll, using the tone of light ridicule he some-times pointed at himself– 'big ears' and 'a funny name,' he'd said so many times before. Now, it was directed at Buttigieg. 'He's the mayor of a small town,' the former president continued. 'He's gay,' Obama said, 'and he's short.' More laughter."

The Examiner pointed out that Obama was careful "to mention before his remarks that he liked Buttigieg, though reportedly believed the reasons he listed would ultimately not lead the former mayor on a path toward victory."

The Hill's book excerpt added: "Only months earlier, Buttigieg had sat in Obama's postpresidential office in Washington seeking counsel on how to maintain equanimity in the face of homophobia on the campaign trail. Now, behind his back, Obama was riffing on him to some of the wealthiest Black men in America at a time when Buttigieg had been dubbed 'Mayo Pete' by critics who believed he couldn't connect with African American voters."

Nor was Buttigieg Obama's second choice after Warren, UK newspaper the Daily Mail said, noting how the book indicated that Obama "was eager to get behind Beto O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman who nearly upset Ted Cruz in the 2018 race for the US Senate".

The book's title is a reference to the fact that, thanks to the American electoral system and a closely divided electorate, a handful of states can propel a candidate to the White House even is that candidate has garnered fewer votes than the opposition, which happened both in 2000, when George W. Bush won against Al Gore, and in 2016, when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.

Indeed, it was Trump's good fortune that so many misfortunes befell Clinton's campaign, enabling him to lose the popular vote by millions but still claim the mantle of the presidency. As Allen and Parens put it, "This time, Biden caught every imaginable break."