Why Buttigieg campaign was so important

He never let a zeal for higher office lower his sights from his goal of raising the stature of political discourse.

Pete Buttigieg is not going to be the next president of the United States.

“Mayor Pete,” as he is fondly referred to by his supporters, is not even going to be the Democratic nominee.

Buttigieg, who rocketed from relative obscurity as the mayor of a town more renowned for its football team than its politics, announced Sunday night he was suspending his campaign for the presidency.

His decision came in the wake of a resounding victory by former Vice President Joe Biden in the South Carolina Primary, and just two days before the national sweepstakes known as Super Tuesday.

Buttigieg was the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He went from being an unknown to one of the early front-runners. His success in the Iowa Caucus — always the first in the nation to make their preferences for president known — put him among the leaders in the crowded fight for the Democratic nod to challenge President Donald Trump.

But he failed to repeat that success, despite a strong showing in New Hampshire, which was next-door turf for Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

After being swamped, along with the rest of the Democratic field, by Biden in South Carolina, the 38-year-old newcomer took stock of his outsider’s campaign for the White House. He came to the realization it was not to be.

“The truth is the path has narrowed to a close for our candidacy, if not for our cause,” Buttigieg told his supporters after he returned to his home turf of South Bend Sunday night. “We must recognize that at this point in the race, the best way to keep faith with those goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and country together.”

In that simple sentence, Buttigieg reminded us of why his bid for the presidency was so important.

No, not because at 38, he was one of the youngest candidates ever to seek the highest office in the land.

Not even because of the historic notion of his campaign, the first openly gay candidate to seek the presidency. Perhaps it is a sign of how far we’ve come, to say nothing of Buttigieg’s stature, that his sexual preference was not the focal point of his success or his failure.

Instead we praise Buttigieg today for reminding us of something all too often lacking in today’s politics.

Pete Buttigieg was a good, decent man.

He did not belittle his opponents. That did not mean he always agreed with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg or Amy Klobuchar. He did not. But he did so in a dignified manner, pointing out the policy differences that separated them.

He saw no need to raise his voice, let alone mock an opponent. You will not find “Mayor Pete” lowering himself to slapping demeaning nicknames on his opponents.

Even when some of President Trump’s supporters sought to cast doubt on his sexuality, Buttigieg declined to take the bait, to coarsen his attacks, the seek the lowest common denominator, what at times seems like the Holy Grail of today’s politics.

Buttigieg spent seven months deployed as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan. It was that intelligence that served as the underpinning of his campaign. It was easy to conclude that Buttigieg, even in a crowded Democratic field, was the smartest guy in the room.

It was that same intelligence and calm, reasoned demeanor that caused him to see — before so many others — that it was time to get out, time to unite the party, and, most importantly, get about the important business of the country.

Unlike so many politicians, he never let a zeal for higher office lower his sights from one of his primary goals, raising the stature of the nation’s political discourse. He routinely urged Americans to move beyond the divisive nature of the past four years and engage in a more inclusive, unifying manner.

“Politics at its worst is ugly,” Buttigieg told his supporters Sunday night. But at its best, politics can lift us up. It is not just policymaking. It is moral. It is soulcraft.

The candidacy of Pete Buttigieg was proof of that.

Our politics just got a little less civil.