The truth is, Buttigieg is about as moderate as Bernie Sanders. He comes off as more reasonable than Bernie because he has a more soothing demeanor. (And he comes off as more reasonable than Elizabeth Warren because he does not sound like a screeching harridan whose hectoring voice is like a witch’s nails drawn across a blackboard.) He quotes — and misquotes — scripture. He sounds reasonable, so long as you ponder the timber of his voice and don’t ponder the substance of what he says.

But at the end of the day, this Ivy- and Oxbridge-educated ‘progressive veteran’ is a Gramscian radical. He is there with with Ralph ‘make-’em-comfortable’ Northam on abortion, though he has gotten pretty deft at avoiding the issue. Abortion, in fact, seems to be the one issue on which he wants the government to stay out of our lives. About everything else, it’s all government all the time.

Mayor Pete will have a scintillating couple of months while the media pretends that he might possibly win the nomination. But he can’t, and that will become obvious, I predict, shortly after Super Tuesday. I am really not sure who would have the best chance against Donald Trump in November. I am confident, though, that the sacrificial lamb will not be Mayor Pete Buttigieg.