By any conventional measure, Robert Francis ‘Beto’ O’Rourke should be headed for political obscurity. He was an undistinguished three-term congressman from El Paso who tried and failed to take Ted Cruz’s Senate seat away from him. He ran in Texas with a conventional far left agenda and with a lot of personal baggage, including a DUI incident in which he was reported to have tried to flee the scene of the accident. He relentlessly tried to prove himself to be “cool,” going so far as to skateboard onto the stage during rallies. Even the name “Beto” was seen as a subterfuge to try to convince voters that the Irish-American was, in fact, Hispanic.
However, because O’Rourke was not blown out during his Senate contest, Democratic donors and other backroom boys think that the 46-year-old politician should run for president. The desire reveals a certain degree of desperation on the part of Democrats.
No shortage of possible Democratic candidates
It is not as if the Democrats have any shortage of possible candidates. They have liberal firebrands such as Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders. The Democrats have elder statesmen like Joe Biden. Michael Bloomberg is even thinking of offering himself as a billionaire who is not Donald Trump. Supporters of Hillary Clinton supporters are touting a third run for the presidency.
The case for Beto
Politico quoted a Democratic insider as suggesting that O’Rourke is the second coming of Barack Obama, only “he’s white.” Comparisons have also been made to Bobby Kennedy.
Besides the fact that O’Rourke was defeated by Cruz by “only” a comfortable margin, Democrats note that he is a superb fundraiser. He managed to garner $70 million in donations from coastal elites as well as small contributors.
The soon to be former congressman also actually does have a “cool” factor, at least among certain voting groups such as millennials.
A Beto O’Rourke presidential candidacy is not outside the realm of sanity. Barack Obama did not prove to be too leftwing to win the presidency twice. Donald Trump, the most unlikely of presidents, managed to overcome a boatload of personal failings, perhaps by using them for good effect, to shock the world and win the Oval Office.
Everything depends on the state of the world in 2020. An economic downturn, a foreign policy disaster, or a Trump scandal that even his supporters find hard to tolerate, could propel another unlikely politician to the presidency.
On the other hand, the landscape is riddled with the bodies, metaphorically speaking, of people who went up against Trump and lost. The president is likely already working on an insulting nickname with perhaps unbecoming relish.
