On March 14, 2019, Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke became the latest Democrat to enter the crowded field of candidates vying to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020. The former U.S. Congressman from Texas immediately starting hauling in copious amounts of cash. According to Fox News, O’Rourke raised $6.1 million online during the first 24 hours of the commencement of his campaign. This feat set a new record for the 2020 Democratic primary contest.
In a statement, the wildly popular O’Rourke said, “In just 24 hours, Americans across this country came together to prove that it is possible to run a true grassroots campaign for president — a campaign by all of us for all of us that answers not to the PACs, corporations and special interests but to the people.”
The former Congressman soared to rock star fame last year when he raised $80 million during his quest to beat Republican U.S. Senator Tex Cruz. O’Rourke narrowly lost that race.
Young and charismatic, O’Rourke has been compared to the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. With the potential to be a liberal media darling, one left-leaning journalist surprisingly pointed to the need for the former Congressman to beef up his policy credentials. The critique came while CNN’s Anderson Cooper was talking with Joe Hagan of Vanity Fair. Hagan mentioned that O’Rourke had garnered name recognition from his failed bid to claim Ted Cruz’s Senate seat. But, Hagan admitted the latest candidate in the 2020 presidential race had “to prove that he has substance to back up the popularity.”
Cooper stated, “It does seem like, he’s sort of, for many people, they may know the name, uh, but there, it’s kind of a blank slate in terms, maybe it’s like a ror—like you can project your own ideas onto who he actually is.”
The CNN journalist went on to say, “If you go to his campaign website, there’s a lot of stuff for sale I noticed today, t-shirts, there’s like a tote bag. There’s really not anything there on policy positions.”
Hagan countered, “Well I press him on a few of them. And I would say he has opinions about things, but you know the more you press him on things, the fuzzier he gets.”
Earlier this year, during an interview with the Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson, O’Rourke was asked what needs to occur to address illegal immigrants overstaying their visas. O’Rourke’s response was, “I don’t know.” Concerning the former Congressman’s lack of an answer, Phillip Wegmann of the Washington Examiner said, “This honesty is refreshing. It is certainly preferable to the normal nonsensical boilerplate that politicians regurgitate when caught in questions they can’t answer. But this honesty is also alarming because O’Rourke has spent the last six years representing a border district in Congress.”
“Certainly, the man who stole a million progressive hearts, almost snatching a Senate seat in the process, has some idea? Not really,” Wegmann added. “According to WaPo, the best O’Rourke can offer is better cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico — hardly the innovative stuff expected from a potential 2020 savior.”
Certainly, O’Rourke has time to flesh out his policy positions. But, shouldn’t he have already accomplished this task before jumping into the presidential race? No matter how appealing O’Rourke might be to the left, they desire one quality above everything else. They want to nominate the person that has the best chance to make Trump a one-term president. So, if O’Rourke stumbles out of the gate appearing like a lightweight, he might earn an early exit from this overcrowded race.
For his part, Trump doesn’t seem too worried about the entrance of O’Rourke into the 2020 fray. He’s already poked fun at O’Rourke for waving his hands excessively at a campaign event.
“I said, is he crazy or is that just the way he acts?” Trump chimed in. “So I’ve never seen hand movement, I watched him a little while this morning doing I assume it was kind of a news conference, and I’ve actually never seen anything quite like it!”
~ Conservative Zone