Pete Buttigieg in the Wilderness

"The presidency has now devolved into what's called 'the MBA White House,' or 'the corporate model.' Is that magic really gone forever? A 19-year-old Peter Buttigieg posed this question to Harvard professor David Gergen, expressing concern that the idealism reflected in The West Wing had slipped away from politics in real life."

"It could be a Puritan, self-effacing thing, where you're not supposed to admit that you view yourself as the person who would want to do that. Buttigieg explained the tension ambitious students felt, suggesting they concealed their political aspirations behind idealism, treating politics itself as an unnatural act to openly acknowledge."

Peter Buttigieg, as a 19-year-old Harvard freshman in 2001, asked professor David Gergen whether the idealism depicted in The West Wing had vanished from real politics, noting the presidency had become an "MBA White House" or corporate model. Years later, the author reflected on encountering ambitious Harvard students at the Institute of Politics who combined earnest idealism with naked ambition. Buttigieg acknowledged this tension, suggesting ambitious students felt compelled to hide their political aspirations behind a facade of self-effacing idealism, viewing politics itself as something unnatural to openly pursue.

Read at The Atlantic