Former President Barack Obama praised failed Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke on Tuesday for the authenticity he exuded on the campaign trail, a trait he said helped his own successful tilts for the White House.
“Impressive, young man, who ran a terrific race in Texas,” Obama said when asked for his impression of O’Rourke, who is 46. “What I liked most about his race was that it didn’t feel constantly poll-tested. It felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed.”
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Obama, who made the comments during a live taping of his ex-adviser David Axelrod’s podcast, “The Ax Files,” said he has also tried to be genuine throughout his political career.
“I think you and I would both agree that in 2008, and hopefully pretty consistently all the way through, that the reason I was able to make a connection with a sizable portion of the country was people had a sense that I said what I meant,” he told Axelrod.
Obama said the same quality could be advantageous for any Democrat seeking their party’s 2020 presidential nomination, adding O’Rourke was not the only contender who has exhibited it.
O’Rourke has been floated as a possible Democratic presidential candidate for 2020 after generating a huge grassroots following and becoming a fundraising powerhouse during the 2018 midterm election cycle. Comparisons have been drawn between Obama and O’Rourke given they both experienced a meteoric rise in national politics.
