Being one of the liberal media’s more beloved candidates in the 2020 race, it made sense that CNN Newsroom was in awe of former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s speech announcing that he would quitting the race, calling it “awesome,” “presidential timber,” “well done,” and Obama-like in “oratory” with “that even-Stephen baritone” voice.
CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers repeatedly told host Ana Cabrera that the “speech was awesome,” adding that his “mom said that was presidential timber, so she — she enjoyed it.”
He hailed him for having bowed out of the race “to put the country first” and alluded to how it took place when Michael Bloomberg delivered a three-minute ad about the coronavirus.
Like a loyal liberal journalist, Washington Post editor David Swerdlick boasted that “it was a well done speech” along with the notion that “[h]e got out at the right time.”
Wistfully going back to the previous administration, Swerdlick asserted:
None of the candidates in this race was a Obama. Each of them had a little piece of Obama. Mayor Buttigieg's piece was that he delivered oratory and that even-Stephen baritone, all that was really missing there, was don't boo vote and I think that's how people will remember him.
The Atlantic’s Ron Brownstein kept up the cheerleading, gushing that “like many other things he did, this was both smooth and shrewd and he’s certainly someone with a — with a future ahead of him.”
CNN political reporter Abby Phillip went last, painting in flowery terms Buttigieg’s justification for staying in the race through Sunday instead of dropping out Saturday after returns came in from South Carolina (click “expand”):
The question is, you know, what do voters do? That's an individual decision and I just want to point out one other thing. He talked about what he did this morning, he started the day in Atlanta, meeting with Jimmy Carter, he went to Selma, Alabama to mark — Bloody Sunday with the other candidates and — and talking to his aides, I asked, why didn't he do this last night? Why did he do this today?
And, you know, one of them said, you know, well, he wanted to have those experiences. It was all part of this process, of processing what he needed to do here tonight and I think you heard him speaking and reflecting on that tonight and I think it really just — it kind of clarified the need to kind of put country first and I think that's what his aides are saying led him to this moment.
To see the relevant CNN transcript from March 1, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom with Ana Cabrera
March 1, 2020
8:55 p.m. EasternANA CABRERA: Everyone is back with me now. Bakari, I'll start with you since I cut you off to go to his remarks. What's your reaction to his speech?
BAKARI SELLERS: That speech was awesome. That was — that was a — my mom just text me while we were sitting here. My mom said that was presidential timber. So, she — she enjoyed it. That was an awesome speech. That's why everybody fell in love with Pete Buttigieg. Something that — just quickly, I know we're — I know we're being brief, but I also want to just point out the timing of this. I completely stepped on Michael Bloomberg. I know Bloomberg had that three-minute ad and it was about coronavirus or something like that, but Pete Buttigieg is the story tonight, is the story tomorrow, and I think that the person who benefits the most from Pete Buttigieg being the story, is going to be Joe Biden. So, we'll see what happens, but this race has a long way to go and hopefully Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Mike Bloomberg, take lead from Pete Buttigieg, and so that you have to put the country first.
CABRERA: David Swerdlick, your thoughts on what we just heard.
DAVID SWERDLICK: Yeah, it was a well-done speech. He got out at the right time. None of the candidates in this race was a Obama. Each of them had a little piece of Obama. Mayor Buttigieg's piece was that he delivered oratory and that even-Stephen baritone, all that was really missing there, was don't boo vote and I think that's how people will remember him. His supporters were chanting 2024. Of course, if he runs at that time, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez will be 36 at that time. You could see something like that as a Democratic primary, and this same moderate versus left-type clash among Democrats, depending on what happens on Super Tuesday, next year, and in the years to come.
CABRERA: And Ron Brownstein, he said too much is at stake to retreat to the sidelines. Why do you think he did not endorse Joe Biden at this time? Do you expect him to?
RON BROWNSTEIN: Well, one reason — yes, one reason is what Andrew Yang said, I mean, you want to be respectful to your supporters at this moment, you don't immediately want to put them into something else. But he gets two bites — two bites at the apple this way. I mean, he made very clear tonight that he does not think Bernie Sanders direction is the right direction for the Democratic Party or a winning direction and that'll be part of the story tonight and tomorrow and then if he does, in fact, endorse later, he will get to make that point again a second time. So, like many other things he did, this was both smooth and shrewd and he’s certainly someone with a — with a future ahead of him, though, precisely in the way that David says, potentially, in an ideological conflict of the direction of the Party through the 2020s.
CABRERA: You mentioned his dig at Bernie Sanders, interesting, because as he was speaking, Bernie Sanders also weighed in, I have the transcript. He says tonight, I just welcome all of his supporters into our movement, and to urge them into joining us for real change in this country. Abby, do you see his supporters potentially getting behind Bernie Sanders?
ABBY PHILLIP: I don't think it's out of the question, but I certainly think that what Pete Buttigieg was trying to tell his supporters tonight was that he thinks that his view of politics in America is actually different from Senator Sanders’s view and I spoke to an aide tonight who said that he wanted to center his, sort of, vision for politics in America, that that he believes that the American people want to — want to move away from a kind of divisive politics and the implication there is, that that politics, that kind of division would only be, sort of, extended by Bernie Sanders. So, I do think it's pretty clear where Buttigieg was leading people here. The question is, you know, what do voters do? That's an individual decision and I just want to point out one other thing. He talked about what he did this morning, he started the day in Atlanta, meeting with Jimmy Carter, he went to Selma, Alabama to mark — Bloody Sunday with the other candidates and — and talking to his aides, I asked, why didn't he do this last night? Why did he do this today? And, you know, one of them said, you know, well, he wanted to have those experiences. It was all part of this process, of processing what he needed to do here tonight and I think you heard him speaking and reflecting on that tonight and I think it really just — it kind of clarified the need to kind of put country first and I think that's what his aides are saying led him to this moment.
