Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke announces a 2020 run for presidency.

Robert Francis O'Rourke's congressional photo. 

Robert Francis O'Rourke has announced a 2020 run for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. AP. O'Rourke was a congressman who resigned for a senate seat in Texas and failed against incumbent Ted Cruz. O'Rourke gained buzz in his run against Cruz and was given millions of dollars, but was unknown before then. Democrats believe that O'Rourke could put Texas into play for the party, despite the fact that he lost to Ted Cruz there in 2018. Though O'Rourke is a far left liberal who supports gun confiscation, universal health care and impeaching President Trump, he has been attacked by liberals for not being far enough to the left. He also is trying to helm a party that has by and large rejected straight white males in favor of minority and female candidates. 

My Comment:

Before I say anything else, I would like to point out that I am refusing to use Robert O'Rourke's insufferable nickname "Beto". I only put it into the title of the post (and in my social media posts) for search engine purposes and I only wrote it in this paragraph to explain why. I see his nickname as a totally transparent attempt to make himself look Hispanic, even if he claims it was a nickname from birth. He's not and he is in fact a rich, upper class white man who went to Columbia university. While he is from Texas, he isn't Hispanic and I won't participate in his pandering. His name is Robert and even if he legally changes his name I won't be calling him his stupid nickname. 

As you can tell, I'm not a fan of O'Rourke. Like most Democrats, he's in favor of gun control and banning private sales of firearms, which means I have zero respect for him at all. So much so that I supported Ted Cruz against him even though I am still not a fan of the man. Unlike many of the other candidates, I also dislike O'Rourke for irrational reasons as well that extend beyond his politics. Much like the actor Colin Farrell (or Will Ferrell for that matter), I just find something about his looks to be insufferable and would feel the urge to flip him off if I ever saw him in person. Indeed, it seems to be similar to all the leftist who are suffering from "Trump Derangement Syndrome". I don't have a good reason to hate the guy more than anyone else currently running but man, I sure do. Why I feel this way is a mystery for me but it is true. I can't even pretend to be objective for him, so I figured I should disclose that. 

Having said that, out of the other candidates, he's more reasonable than most in the Democratic field right now. He's not as into identity politics as Kamala Harris and Corey Booker so that's a plus. He's also to the right of Bernie Sanders economically which is also good. And though I think his nickname is insufferable pandering, it's a fair bit better than what Elizabeth Warren did with her fake Native American ancestry scandal. Plus, he doesn't seem to give off the creepy "#MeToo but with kids this time" aura that Joe Biden has. 

Indeed, as far as the Democratic candidates go, I think I would put him at number 3 in terms of who I would be least upset with if he won. He's behind Tusli Gabbard, who's foreign policy I really like despite her horrible position on guns, and Bernie Sanders, who is generally opposed to identity politics and less extreme on gun control. That is, of course, damning by faint praise, but I do like his policies slightly more than many of the other candidates I am familiar with. 

So does he have a chance to win? I don't think so. He's running as a straight white male in a party that has roundly rejected straight white males. The "woke" idpol people will reject him and reject him soundly. They are already claiming he is benefiting from white privilege, which is both ridiculous and racist. That means he already lost support of a major faction of Democrats. 

He's probably lost the economic side of the party to Bernie Sanders. Sanders is further to the left on economics than O'Rourke and I doubt his fans would abandon him. And even Elizabeth Warren has a lot more experience and appeal in that area than O'Rourke does. The whole straight white male thing probably doesn't matter to these Democrats but I am guessing the fact that he is a rich one might. He's got millions of dollars of his own money and even married into wealth. His wife is the daughter of a business tycoon so he's exactly the kind of person that economic leftists should hate. 

Normally I would say that leaves the more centrist "blue dog" Democrats would support him, but even that doesn't seem sure. Joe Biden should scoop up those votes, assuming he isn't brought down by a sex scandal. Plus it's important to note that more moderate Democratic supporters have largely left the party after 2016. It's not the hugely important demographic it used to be as the party lurches left. 

So who does that leave as an audience? I am not sure. I mean I am sure some women will vote for him because he's attractive, and some might buy his "cool guy" image, but surely that can't be enough to win him the candidacy? With the major wings of the party fairly settled on who they want, I don't really see a place for him. 

Assume he does win the candidacy though. Does he beat Trump? I doubt it. I do think a boring centrist would be a decent counter for President Trump, but I just don't see any of the Democrats beating him unless something major happens due to the good economy and the natural advantage of incumbency. He'd do better than many of the other candidates then as he could play the straight man to Trump's over the top act, plus people might like a more boring and less bombastic President but even then, I can't see it happening. 

All that being said, I think that even if he loses, O'Rourke is pretty close to a shoe in for all the other candidates as a VP pick. The Democrats are desperate to somehow put Texas into play as doing so would pretty much end any chance of there being a GOP president and, in theory, O'Rourke could do that. I don't buy it myself but it seems worth doing. Plus, O'Rourke would be the centrist Ying to the more radical Yang for all of the non Biden candidates (which not a reference to fringe candidate Andrew Yang). I think there's probably a much better chance of him of being the Vice Presidential candidate than being even one of the last remaining candidates for the big office itself...