Letter: Message sent with a dignified velvet glove

Pete Buttigieg, a hatchet man? That doesn't seem to fit his style, or personality. Besides, doesn't that unofficial task typically go to a vice president or another high-ranking official? As Transportation Secretary, I guess Buttigieg would qualify. After President Biden's recent State of the Union speech, maybe Buttigieg could create a new hatchet man template.

I'd welcome a kinder, gentler version of that traditional lightning rod role. But after hearing the Transportation Secretary dismantle some of his detractors - Fox News comes to mind - I'm not sure I'd describe his technique as kind or gentle. A civil, dignified velvet glove approach might be more accurate.

In government, hatchet men have played a convenient role for U.S. presidents longing to preserve whatever air of decency they have - or think they have.

Affable Ronald Reagan had Treasury Secretary, and later Chief of Staff Donald Regan to deliver unfriendly news to the press; Gerald Ford used Kansas Senator and 1976 VP running mate Robert Dole to perform the same function; and George H.W. Bush, another confrontation-averse leader, leaned on Lee Atwater to Waylay potential Bush rivals, particularly MA. Governor and 1988 presidential rival Michael Dukakis; and perhaps the mother of all modern-day hatchet men, Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon's first vice president.

President Biden wants to restore a sense of unity and calm in America. Is it prudent to suggest that Pete Buttigieg can help him do that? We know spite is contagious. Maybe civility is too. Let's find out.

Jim Newton

Itasca