Obama said Pete Buttigieg couldn’t win Democratic nomination because he’s gay, book claims

Former president reportedly used a ‘tone of light ridicule he some-times pointed at himself’

Former President Barack Obama said in 2019 that Pete Buttigieg could not win the Democratic presidential nomination because of his age, height, and his sexuality, a new book has claimed.

The claims come in an excerpt from a new book titled Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency, by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen of NBC, detailing Joe Biden’s path to the presidency.

According to The Hill’s excerpt, the authors say in the book that during a meeting with Black corporate donors in October 2019, Mr Obama voiced support for senator Elizabeth Warren and quelled objections against her.

In the discussion about the candidates for the presidential nomination, Mr Obama reportedly said that while he liked Mr Buttigieg and had an “affinity” for him, he thought there were a number of reasons why he couldn’t win.

According to the book, the former president used a “tone of light ridicule he some-times pointed at himself” to initially cite Mr Buttigieg’s young age, saying “he’s thirty-eight” but “he looks thirty.”

“He’s the mayor of a small town,” the former president reportedly continued, according to the book, adding the fact Mr Buttigieg was “gay” and “short” as other reasons he would not secure the nomination.

The Independent has contacted the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama and the White House for comment on the claims in the book.

The former South Bend, Indiana mayor ran in the Democratic primaries as the first openly gay candidate of a major party, but dropped out of the race in March 2020.

In the race, Mr Buttigieg slipped to third place in the Nevada caucus and barely registered with black voters in South Carolina, failing to capture a key demographic vital for the success of a Democratic nominee.

Polls commissioned by Politico and published in October 2019 suggested at the time that half of American voters surveyed were ready for a gay or lesbian president, but were divided as to whether the country was.

Under Mr Biden’s administration, Mr Buttigieg has become the first openly gay person ever confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet post as transportation secretary.