Kisses heard round the world ....

I was struck while looking over reviews of Amazon's new "Mayor Pete" documentary by the headline assigned to MSNBC writer Zeeshan Aleem's piece that declared it "reveals little about Pete Buttigieg."

Long story short, I didn't find that to be at all true and enjoyed the film --- released yesterday and so far, at least, available only via Amazon.

A good share of the documentary plays out in Iowa, where Buttigieg capped his rise to prominence as a candidate with a win before falling behind in New Hampshire, Nevada and then South Carolina, where Joe Biden made his comeback.

The film offers fascinating insight into how a political campaign works via the documentary camera's fly-on-the-wall presence during strategy and debate practice sessions. There are similar moments, both fly-on-the-wall and during sit-down interviews, that document the loving relationship between Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten.

And the documentary does reveal a good deal about the candidate himself. He comes across as self-contained, calm, thoughtful, intelligent and highly focused. That calm came in handy during one of the more amusing scenes --- when the candidate, his aides and the camera were trapped briefly in an elevator.

Some reviewers seem to be especially frustrated by the fact the documentary fails to crack what they perceive as Buttigieg's self-contained facade --- hoping for tears, perhaps. I suspect, however, that the film does a good job of capturing the candidate as he is --- self-contained, calm, thoughtful, intelligent and highly focused.

What you see is what you get. Some of this may well relate to sexual orientation --- Buttigieg, now 39, was in the closet until age 33 and those of us who are veterans of the closet recognize self-contained as a defense mechanism that becomes second nature.

We'll most likely see more of the Buttigiegs in future campaigns and "Mayor Pete" serves as a nicely done recap as well as an introduction.

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The other news of the week in a field somewhat narrower than national politics was the kiss TJ Osborne planted on the lips of his boyfriend, Abi Ventura, before going on stage at the CMA awards to accept the vocal duo of the year award with his brother, John.

No, I didn't watch the awards ceremony, but have watched clips of both the kiss and the Brothers' lovely onstage performance of  "Younger Me."

TJ Osborne, 36, came out of the closet during February into a musical genre generally looked upon as a bastion of hyper-masculine heterosexuality not especially welcoming to gay folks.

The response has been hopeful, so that kiss was another significant one --- joining the public displays of affection by Pete and Chasten Buttigieg while campaigning for U.S. president as kisses heard round the world, or at least significant segments of it.