In 2011, @PeteButtigieg was elected Mayor of South Bend as a sort of savior — the native son who went to Harvard and Oxford and made it big, working for the most powerful and successful consulting firm in the country had returned to save the forgotten city.

The people of South Bend were enthusiastic and hopeful. This erudite young man with an impressive resume would surely put in the work and use his talents to turn things around and make life better. And Mayor Pete did just that.

He got to work, embracing the University of Notre Dame and encouraging investment in his small city. He began ambitious projects, building/demolishing 1000 homes in 1000 days. He saw the economy in the city grow and the population begin to tick up.

Even more impressive, ever the dedicated patriot and public servant, Mayor Pete took a seven month leave, not to pursue selfish-ends, but to serve his country, our country, the United States of America, in Afghanistan.

Mayor Pete returned from Afghanistan and was given a hero’s welcome at South Bend Regional (now international) Airport. Days later, the State of Indiana began recognizing same-sex marriages and months later, Pete took a leap of faith and came out himself.

Mayor Pete’s announcement was heralded and a couple weeks later, same-sex marriage was made legal nationwide by the Supreme Court. Pete cruised to re-election and was recognized as a rising star in the Democratic Party in 2016.

Pete, seizing on the praise of the most popular Democrat in his lifetime and on the void left by Hillary Clinton’s defeat, sought to fulfill the promise of his stardom. He ran for DNC Chair and although he lost, his star just grew and he impressed people all around him.

He began plotting something bigger, all while his personal life flourished. He regularly met with crowds of adoring students at Notre Dame and began a relationship with an incredible guy, a genuine, lovable, and funny school teacher from nearby Michigan.

Pete got married and got in contact with Lis Smith, an underrated talent in the Democratic Party if there ever was one. In January 2019, the small city Mayor took another leap. He announced a long shot campaign for president.

Like with most things in Pete’s life, he was almost instantly successful. He raised boatloads of cash and was rising in the polls. After seeming to plateau for a bit, he now sees himself rising again. He’s leading in the all-important state of Iowa. But there’s a problem.

Pete Buttigieg, despite his impressive IQ, huge fundraising, and undeniable talent can’t even so much as make a dent with Black voters. Why is that? He’s released a plan named after Frederick Douglass Aimee squarely at addressing inequities faced by Black Americans.

He makes sure to highlight the specific challenges faced by Black women. He goes into Black churches and sings along with the congregation. He’s recruited some very talented Black campaign staff to help him with outreach. Why isn’t it moving the needle?

From the very first days of his first Mayoral campaign, there’s been a disconnect. While some people saw Pete as a savior, others saw him as a stranger. Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg never really was a native son of South Bend, Indiana.

Pete didn’t live in South Bend because he loved the city or was the son of a laid off Studebaker autoworker. He was the son of Notre Dame professors. Sure, Pete had an impressive resume, but he had been given every imaginable advantage from cradle to Oxford.

Pete didn’t return to South Bend to save it. He returned to South Bend because his first attempt at fulfilling his ambition failed miserably — a 25 point defeat in the Indiana Treasurer’s race in 2010.

Pete worked hard, but it wasn’t the on-the-ground work of mobilizing and organizing a community to solve its problems. It was time spent on the phone and in meetings, speaking to the wealthy and powerful, pleading with them to trust in him and invest in his small city.

Pete paid attention to Notre Dame and Notre Dame is an integral part of some of South Bend’s community, but to others, it’s a school they will never go to with students who are often rich, stuck-up, and destined to never live in a city of less than 500,000 people ever again.

The Notre Dame student body is almost as white as snow, as are the groups of students that came to enthusiastically greet Mayor Pete on his periodic visits to campus.

Who does Pete connect with better: The CEO looking for a low-cost, growing Midwestern City to locate his business or the IUSB student who is the first in his family to go to college?

Or how about the African American lifelong resident of South Bend or the Sophomore at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business?

As Mayor Pete encouraged investment in South Bend, crime rates actually went up. As Mayor Pete demolished ~600 homes, homelessness persisted in his city. As Mayor Pete took in the plaudits of national media and political figures, some residents hardly see him.

While everyone in the city admires Pete’s service to our country in Afghanistan, some wonder when he is going to serve them. As Pete touts his ability to unify the country, he hasn’t unified his own city.

As Pete promotes his “Douglass Plan” and tells residents of South Carolina to trust in him, he has given up on earning the trust of Black residents of South Bend who have been skeptical of him ever since he fired the city’s first Black police chief.

Does anyone believe that if Pete doesn’t win the nomination, he’ll stay in South Bend for more than a few months? Only a fool would answer yes to that question. The simple truth is, Pete won’t ever be able to diversify his base during this campaign.

That’s not because he’s not smart or impressive or hard working. It’s not because he doesn’t support the right policies or have the right people on his staff. It’s because Pete is, first and foremost, all about himself. His ambition. His talent.

He can’t earn people’s trust because he’s never had to. Before this, all Pete has had to do to succeed is plop down his resume. Now that his task is genuine connection with people unlike him, he can’t succeed.

Maybe sometime in the future Pete will figure it out. But right now all people have to go on is his time in South Bend. And while that time has been prosperous for a select group, it hasn’t been so prosperous for others. And voters know that and are respinding to it.