Pete Buttigieg's Secret Weapon to Beat Donald Trump: The National Debt?

Hunter DeRensis

Politics,

The candidate’s critique of the fiscal record of the incumbent Republican is not a new tactic. Could it work? 

The deficit, and how to eliminate it, is a traditional buzzword in presidential politics going back decades. As Democrats prepare for a longer-than-expected primary beginning with New Hampshire tomorrow, the phrase is making its regular cyclical comeback.

“I think the time has come for my party to get a lot more comfortable talking about the deficit,” said Pete Buttigieg at a townhall meeting in New Hampshire. “Because right now we got a president who comes from a party that used to talk a lot about fiscal responsibility, with a trillion-dollar deficit, and no plan in sight for what to do about it.”

Buttigieg, who is currently polling in second place in the Granite state, has for months tried to replace former Vice President Joe Biden as the moderate in the race. To this end, the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana has withdrawn his previous support for Medicare for All, and instead crafted his own plan, Medicare for All Who Want It. Buttigieg claims his alternative will come with a much lower price tag.

The candidate’s critique of the fiscal record of the incumbent Republican is not a new tactic. In 1988, after President Ronald Reagan had seen a drastic rise in deficit spending to fund his growing military budget, Democratic candidates from Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt to Massachusetts Governor (and eventual nominee) Michael Dukakis said they’d oversee balanced budgets through a mixture of tax increases and spending cuts.