Beto O’Rourke is the Democratic front-runner today because he stands for nothing.
In the first 24 hours of his presidential race, the former congressman from El Paso raised $6.1 million. That’s a record haul, and to date, it is the most meaningful objective measure of support in the crowded Democratic primary field. Polls this early measure only name recognition. Beto is the front-runner.
The question is why. The answer is bleak.
The other Democratic candidates have either accomplishments or ideas to point to. Joe Biden was the vice president and played a large (if baneful) role in the Senate for decades, including as chairman of the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees. Sen. Bernie Sanders created a grassroots movement and won 13 million votes in 2012. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s policy proposals are bad, but at least they’re policy ideas. And say what you will about Sen. Kamala Harris’ gleeful promises to prosecute her enemies, but at least it’s a platform.
O’Rourke blows out all of these Democrats without pointing to a single accomplishment or policy. His whole act is running away from anything and standing for nothing.
Asked about AR-15s, he managed simultaneously to endorse them and call for their restriction. Asked about policy, he retreats behind vague generalities. His record is very slim, but he’s running away even from that. O’Rourke spent the first few days swearing off everything he’s ever said in the past, including harmless jokes from the campaign trail.
He spent 2017 and 2018 trying and failing to oust Sen. Ted Cruz, then spent the next few months finding himself by (we kid you not) driving around the country and livestreaming his musings. O’Rourke noted, in a joking way, that these travels left his wife with most of the parenting duties. Whether or not this was a relief to her was not disclosed, but his view was terribly unwoke, and he apologized for it.
This is how to rise to the top in the Democratic Party today. Stand for nothing, not even a compliment to your wife. Why does this go over so well among Democrats? The answer is Barack Obama and Donald Trump: The first must be emulated, and the second must be beaten.
Obama won in 2008 running as a blank canvas onto which centrists and liberals, young and old, could project their dreams. O’Rourke is trying to be the new Obama, giving a new meaning to “running on empty.”
While a sizable portion of the Democratic base really cares about far-left policy such as “Medicare for all,” “free” college, a $15 minimum wage, a “Green New Deal,” and chasing churches out of the public square, that’s still a minority. Most Democratic primary voters think Trump must be defeated at any cost.
If they have to nominate someone who stands for nothing, that’s fine for Democrats, as long as he stands against Trump.
