The Register's editorial

As South Bend, Indiana, mayor, Pete Buttigieg has served a city of about 100,000 people. That’s about the size of Davenport, Iowa.

No offense to current or recent mayors of Davenport, but not too long ago that would have seemed like scant political experience on which to launch a candidacy for president of the United States. And by “not too long ago,” we mean before the American people handed the White House to a former TV talk-show host with zero political experience.

So how is it that Buttigieg, whose last name is a tongue-twister and who at 37 is the youngest of the two-dozen “major” candidates for president, is even being taking seriously, let alone holding down a fifth-place position in polls?

One doesn’t need to spend an hour talking to Buttigieg, as Register reporters and editors did recently, to notice that he’s an extraordinarily gifted communicator. He has a way of calmly, rationally framing complex ideas into understandable and persuasive points, neither dumbing them down nor tarting them up with hyperbole or rhetorical excess.

For example, he cuts through emotional objections to the idea of reparations for long-ago slavery and not-so-long-ago systemic racism with a level-headed economic analogy about compound interest. In short, a dollar saved at 5 percent interest becomes $1.05 after a year; about $14 after two years, and $1,000 after 150 years.

“If that’s true for a dollar saved, then it’s true for a dollar stolen,” Buttigieg said. “How much more than one dollar per person was stolen from black Americans as of 150 years ago? And who thinks that a black American today who is descended (from slaves) is not worse off because of that? In other words, the fact that some of these harms happened a long time ago doesn’t make it better; it makes it worse.”

Buttigieg, a Rhodes scholar and military veteran, puts his Harvard history degree to good use, including when he explains why white voters should be alarmed at the rise of white supremacy and why they would benefit from improved race relations.

“In the history of the American project, once have we actually come close to the American project ending, and it was the Civil War. White supremacy is the force that has come closest to bringing (this) country to its knees, and I believe that lurking danger is still with us,” he said.

Buttigieg, perhaps because of his age, also seems able to more clearly and persuasively make the case for reconfiguring health care and other outdated government structures to work in today’s economy. “We're still living in these 20th-century structures that assume we have a 20th-century economy, even as gigs replace jobs, even as workers come to be told that they are contractors,” he said. “And health is just one of many areas in which we've got to produce a different fundamental framework in order for that economy to work for more of us.”

But while editorial board members were impressed by Buttigieg’s intelligence, preparation and grasp of issues, some were left flat by his delivery. “I was sort of surprised at his low-key demeanor. Maybe it was the setting, or the day, but he seemed less like a presidential candidate than a political policy analyst — or an academic,” one board member remarked.

“On several questions, he seemed to answer a little too quickly as if regurgitating a prewritten position paper,” another board member commented. “He should practice pretending to think the question over before answering.”

Buttigieg inserts relatively little emotional content into his remarks. He occasionally tells personal stories — such as talking about his mother-in-law with skin cancer whose life depends on the Affordable Care Act — but he can seem detached, like he’s talking about a stranger’s family.

His smart, no-drama approach is reminiscent of former President Barack Obama. Buttigieg’s very rationality should be attractive to voters who are weary of the theatrics of today’s White House. But to inspire change, a president has to engage not only Americans’ brains, but also their hearts. Buttigieg has enormous potential, and he may yet achieve that ability, but he’s not there yet.

More Caucus First Impressions:

Andrew Yang deserves more voter attention

Joe Sestak's life of public service extends from Navy to Congress to Des Moines' Econo Lodge

Seth Moulton's ideas are stronger than his campaign

John Hickenlooper is used to being underestimated

'Wonky' Kirsten Gillibrand shows a fierce passion for civil rights

Marianne Williamson offers spiritual guidance to the nation

John Delaney engaged our policy wonks but has work to do with those looking for flash