When you're up against people like Beto O'Rourke, that isn't saying very much. I think the reason Buttigieg is being hyped up so much is that Democrats realized that there was no substance to O'Rourke even by their low standards, and needed to find a hip, young replacement to fill the manufactured hype niche fast.
I suppose that could be. The Democrats' political machine seems to have thrown Biden under the bus even before he declared his candidacy - that's why we're suddenly getting non-stop "#metoo"-type headlines about Biden nonstop now, as opposed to never in the past. This means that the DNC has some other pet establishment candidate who they want to promote. It won't be Bernie or Warren - they'll scare off Wall Street and Silicon Valley donors, so perhaps it will be Harris by default, unless some other favored hack (Hillary?) enters the race in the 11th hour.
we'll know as soon as CNN hosts the first debate and we can identify and ascertain who has the questions in advance.