The thing that will almost certainly elevate Beto O’Rourke in the minds of rural pudgeball voters is that he’s a real-deal, Bobby Kennedy-like humanist who’s not beholden to shrieking lefty Stalinists. If there’s one thing that Average Americans loathe and despise it’s doctrinaire white-male-hating p.c. crazies.
O’Rourke, who may announce his Presidential candidacy later this week, “has betrayed little concern about catering to his left flank. People close to him say a central takeaway from speaking to disparate audiences in recent months is that voters are far less ideological than some in the party might believe — supplying an opening, Mr. O’Rourke senses, for a unifying figure in a bog of partisan warriors.
Beto O'Rourke says he has made a decision on a 2020 presidential run. CNN's @leylasantiago caught up with O'Rourke in El Paso, Texas, where he teased an upcoming announcement. https://t.co/x43EYTIhMX pic.twitter.com/ObrA3ZQbn3
— CNN (@CNN) February 28, 2019
“Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in 2016, said that Mr. O’Rourke stands apart as a politician who can ‘drive his own news,’ independent of Donald Trump, alluding to his history of social media-ready flourishes on the campaign trail.
“’It’s not just a matter of being authentic,’ Mr. Mook said. ‘It’s authentically taking on Trump and challenging political norms.’
“Still, most candidates considered to be top 2020 contenders tend to check at least one of the following three boxes: (a) a firm policy bedrock anchoring their campaigns, like the economic platforms of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren; (b) the potential to make history, like Kamala Harris or her female Senate peers in the field; or (c) deep experience and national standing, like Joe Biden.
“Mr. O’Rourke would appear to satisfy none of these descriptions, though his instinct for viral internet ubiquity and generational uplift may amount to its own category.
“His fans compare him to Mr. Obama or the Kennedys — a font of rangy inspiration — rarely dwelling on his record. But Mr. O’Rourke would enter the race without a signal achievement over six years as an El Paso congressman, nor an obvious big-ticket policy idea that might animate his bid.
“Amanda Litman, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton in 2016, wondered aloud if Mr. O’Rourke would be considered a top-tier candidate ‘if he wasn’t a handsome young white man.'” — from a 3.11 N.Y. Times story by Matt Flegenheimer and Lisa Lerer, titled “Beto O’Rourke Moves Toward a 2020 Race He Could Upend, Ready or Not.”
HE interjection #1: Every now and then a political operator will convey an unspoken attitude among SJW lefties, which is that being white and male is kind of a bad thing in and of itself. Imagine someone like Litman asking in 2007 if Barack Obama would be considered a top-tier candidate “if he wasn’t a handsome young black man.”
HE interjection #2: Presuming that O’Rourke will run a level-headed campaign and not blurt out anything clumsy or gaffe-y (like Hillary’s “deplorables” comment or Obama’s remark about rural dumbshits “clinging to guns and religion”) he will definitely kick Trump’s ass. Because he won’t scare the pot-bellied bumblefucks and because the Obama coalition (under 40s, women, Latinos, POCs) will vote for him in droves.
