Beto O’Rourke is Everything That is Wrong with Presidential Politics
Beto O’ Rourke is everything wrong with presidential politics. Beto is like Donkey from Shrek, the nation’s annoying sidekick jumping up and down saying “Pick me” over and over and over again and who just won’t shut up. The two big differences being that Shrek eventually did allowed Donkey to come along on his quest and the character is likable, unlike the former Texas congressman. The USS Beto is like the Titanic, a once proud ship that hit an iceberg, is now taking on water and going down with no chance of righting the ship. The combination of these factors have led to Beto coming to symbolize everything with presidential politics.
It wasn’t always this way. Beto was loved by the media which welcomed him to the presidential primary with open arms (which I wrote about elsewhere here). He was also a darling in the Democratic Party for he was the man who almost took down the hated Ted Cruz in the 2018 Texas Senate race. Sure, he was merely a former congressman, who was best known for not winning an election, but the fact that he nearly turned Texas blue was sign that he had appeal.
Then it all went wrong. Even Democrats have moved on. Some in the Democratic Party want to elect the first female president, so Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris are there preferred choices. Others are still loyal to Bernie Sanders or think Joe Biden is the more pragmatic choice. The media dumped him and fell in love with Pete Buttigieg who replaced him as a charismatic young guy. More liberal and progressive types are attracted to Bernie or Warren as the best chance to nominate somebody other than Biden. In other words, Beto’s entire popularity, both in his Senate campaign and early presidential campaign, was based around the fact that he wasn’t Ted Cruz. The entire rationale for his campaign was built on a lie. But, don’t tell Beto that. He is still in the race, unwilling to accept the fact that even his own party has now told him to go pound sand.
He tries to get back in the news by cursing, because that shows passion, or something. He comes out with asinine policy suggestions such as forbidding credit card companies from allowing users to purchase legal products, such as AR-15s. Trump’s more MAGA defenders like that “he fights,” so Beto tries to assure progressive that “I fight,” but it comes across as a vanity candidate desperately trying to remain relevant. Why, from a progressive’s point of view, would you need Beto to fight Trump when you could have Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders?
Beto is a microcosm of everything wrong with our presidential politics. First in 2016 with the Republicans, now in 2020 with the Democrats, hideously large fields populated with delusional also-rans with an unseemly desire to acquire political power, vanity campaigners, single issue ranters, book tourers, cabinet auditioners, cable news pundit wannabes, and people who want to raise their profile in order to run for Senate or governor, have turned the serious business of running for president into a joke. Trump was able to in 2016 because 16 other candidates, about half of whom had no business running in the first place, beat up each other and their egos led to some of them staying in well past their sell-by date.
Beto O’Rourke now longer has any reason for being in the race. He is now only running because he has a a politician’s ego that can only be satisfied with the accumulation of more power for himself. He cannot bring himself to admit that his entire popularity was a lie and he desperately wants that popularity back and has therefore been relegated to making a fool of himself for the whole country to see.
