Yet every time I hear him speak, I get the sense that he’s trying too hard to please everyone and that — in a way that recalls some of Obama’s worst tendencies toward misguided centrism — he’ll end up pleasing no one in the process. Ultimately, I worry Buttigieg will easily lose to Trump because he is ill suited to make the simplest and most powerful argument against the current administration’s apparent economic successes.

That argument goes like this: Though the economic stats look pretty good, the Trump boom is a mirage and a moral disgrace. Today’s seemingly rosy climate is the culmination of a political economy that consistently rewards the already wealthy at the expense of everyone else. The only way to reverse the trend toward inequality is to reform the way America does business. A politician who pushes for these reforms needs courage, because the forces arrayed against structural change are powerful.

But while Mayor Pete has outlined several progressive-sounding ideas for overhauling Americans’ economic lives — including a call for universal health care (that will still include a hefty role for private corporations), an idea for lowering student debt (but not making college free), a promise to strengthen regulations against monopolies (but a reluctance to break up Big Tech) — he lacks authenticity. Rather than fundamental reform, many of his proposals end up sounding like opportunistic incrementalism, as if he wants to be seen to be doing something without really doing much at all, for fear of arousing the forces arrayed against reform. Even Biden, who has built his brand on common-man folksisms, seems more believable, and he has explicitly promised billionaires that nothing much will change for them.

My fears about Mayor Pete’s easy way with the wealthy were confirmed this week, when he convened a group of big-money donors on a tour through Silicon Valley. I wasn’t surprised that he has proved so attractive to the tech set. With his slick, easy optimism, Mayor Pete reminds me of so many techies who promise big, disruptive change while refusing to accept the full costs of achieving their idealism. For them, there’s always an easy, slapdash, cost-free revolution: Just use the right hashtag on Instagram and you, too, can spark regime change in the Arab world.