It was supposed to be Beto O’Rourke’s unofficial presidential campaign reset. But his appearance on ABC’s “The View” could have just as easily taken place in Communist China.
O’Rourke’s entire first segment on the show Tuesday was a modern-day “struggle session,” with O’Rourke apologizing and atoning for his wrongs, confessing his sins, and checking grievance boxes that the Democratic Party, now under control of the social justice movement, demand from their candidates.
He said he was “meeting people where they are in their communities,” before pandering in Spanish about everyone in America being important. He admitted all that he has to “learn.” And he apologized for all of his “advantages that others cannot enjoy.”
Co-host Meghan McCain asked O’Rourke about the Vanity Fair spread that marked the start of his campaign in April and his solo cross-country tour that he embarked on while his wife cared for their children. “These are things in my mind that a female candidate wouldn’t be able to get away with,” she said.
O’Rourke submitted. “You’re right,” he said. “There are things that I have been privileged to do in my life that others cannot.” He dutifully added that “the systematic, foundational discrimination that we have in this country in every aspect of life is something that I have not experienced in my lifetime and I’ve had advantages that others cannot enjoy.”
Asked again by Joy Behar if it was a “mistake” to appear on the magazine cover, O’Rourke said, “Yeah, I think it reinforces that perception of privilege,” because “no one was born to be president of the United States of America, least of all me.”
This is all because he posed on the cover of Vanity Fair for his campaign, a literal vanity affair.
After confessing those sins, O’Rourke was asked about the criticism (from liberals) he received for saying that he only “sometimes” helped his wife physically care for their children. “Absolutely, and I deserved it,” he pleaded. “So listen, in a real ham-handed way, I was trying to acknowledge that she has a lion’s share of the responsibility during this campaign.”
O’Rourke is the husband perpetually apologizing to his wife for having stayed out with the guys an hour too long. He won’t stop doing it because apologies are bottomless. Isn’t that just what the country needs right now? A groveling half-man to lead it?
To put a bow on it all, O’Rourke acknowledged he has his own “work cut out” for himself in order “to be a better person and insure that I’m more mindful to the experiences that others have had different than the experiences that I’ve had.”
And so ended his struggle session. At least until the next one, when once again our hero humbles himself for the “privilege” from which he suffers and the “advantages” he was unlucky enough to be given.
[Also read: Beto O’Rourke’s wife Amy makes campaign trail debut after his drop in primary polls]
