, Columnist
Warren Isn’t a Wonk and Buttigieg Isn’t a Moderate
On health care and Social Security, both candidates put ideology ahead of necessity or practicality.
War of the wonks.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren have been cast as the “wonk” candidates in the Democratic presidential primary: the cerebral number-crunchers putting out detailed and thoughtful policy proposals, with hers being ambitious and left-wing and his modest and moderate.
But both the contrast and the wonkiness are overstated. In key respects, Buttigieg is running on a Warren-lite agenda. Some of their plans also have more to do with achieving political and ideological objectives than with solving any pressing problem in American life.