Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke on Thursday leveled some of the most aggressive criticism of front-runner Joe Biden of anybody in the 23-person field, calling the former vice president a “return to the past” and highlighting his recent flip-flips on policy issues.
“You cannot go back to the end of the Obama administration and think that’s good enough,” O’Rourke told MSNBC when asked why he is a better candidate than the former vice president.
Biden, 76, has touted his record at part of the Obama administration and centered his campaign on a return to normalcy following the rise of President Trump. “Let’s make America America again,” Biden said at a campaign stop in Iowa on Tuesday.
Biden continues to lead in the crowded presidential primary field, garnering 32.2% support in RealClearPolitics‘ average of national polls. O’Rourke is in sixth place with 3.8% support in that average, down from a peak of 9.5% in April.
“We cannot return to the past. We cannot simply be about defeating Donald Trump,” O’Rourke, 46, said. “We’ve got to bring everyone in to this democracy to make sure that in the most ambitious, aspirational way possible, we confront the greatest challenges that we’ve ever faced: comprehensive immigration reform, freeing ‘Dreamers’ from any fear of deportation, fully taking on climate change before it is too late.”
When pressed on whether Biden is a return to the past, O’Rourke did not hesitate to agree: “He is. And that cannot be who we are going forward,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve got to be bigger, we’ve got to be bolder, we have to set a much higher mark and be relentless in pursuing that.”
O’Rourke also highlighted Biden’s 2002 vote in favor of the Iraq War, Biden’s change in tone on whether China is a threat to the United States, and Biden’s previous stance in favor of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funds from being used on abortion services. O’Rourke declined, though, to call on Biden to apologize for his vote in favor of the Iraq war.
“Look, you’ve got to ask yourself where Joe Biden is on the issues that are most important to you. Did he support the war in Iraq that forever destabilized the Middle East?” O’Rourke said. “He supported the Hyde Amendment … On China, he says China is no threat, nothing to worry about, and now seems to be changing his message on that.”
