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DECEMBER
04,2018

WHATDOESBETOO'ROURKE
ACTUALLY
STANDFOR?

What makes anyonethink O'Rourkeshould be president? He is

neither a bold progressivenor a distinguished legislator.
P2

The article starts so

by ZAIDJILANI(/AUTHOR/ZAIDJILANI) strong. (Note: My response
starts sarcastically)
eto O'Rourke-a three-term Congressman from El Paso, Texas who recently failed to
Jilani begins his article by
unseat Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz-is suddenly one of the hottest names in
muddying the waters. If Beto
Democratic Party politics. The once-obscure representative is on the lips of many as a receives support from all
presidential contender. "All the guy would have to do is send out an email to his these shady characters who
are, at best, figures of the
fundraising base...and he raises $30 million," one anonymous Democratic bundler told Politico establishment and, at worst,
fairly racist, then Beto must
(https://www.politico.com/story/2018/ 11/ 19/beto-orourke-2020-democratic-primary-995 35 3 ).
be a bad guy!
"That has totally changed the landscape for tier 1 guys, because now Bernie and Warren, now they Turns out, that's neither
have competition. It completely changes the game if Beto runs. And he should run ...He's Barack logically sound, nor a very
honest way of engaging in a
05ama, but white." debate over candidates. So

ormer 06ama a viser Dan Pfeiffer ma e a slightly less cringeworthy version of the same argument
(https://crooked.com/articles/beto -president-2020/), arguing that he has "never seen a Senate
I I'm glad this goes on for two
more pages.

candidate-including Obama in 2004-inspire the sort of enthusiasm Beto did in this race. This is
about more than Lebron wearing a Beto hat, or Beyonce sporting one on lnstagram. It's about the
Full Disclosure: I'm
people all over the country with no connection to Texas with signs in their yards and sticker in their vaguely pro-Beto, but that's
cars." He concluded that "millions of people already believe in Beto O'Rourke, and that moment, not why I wrote this.
Whoever the people are that
for them and him, may be upon us." 0 'Rourke himself fueled these fires by recently reversing run for the nomination, I
himself on a pledge not to run for president, telling (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics- really don't want the
conversation to be as
news/beto-o-rourke-changes-his-answer-2020-presidential-run-n940511) a town hall audience, acrimonious as the Hillary-
many of whom wanted to see him pursue the presidency, he will think about what he will do next. Bernie showdown.
(Relatedly, I desparately hope
neither of them run again)
But it's not just a few donors and Democratic strategists uniting behind a potential Beto bid. A
i nificant number of Democratic voters, too, have embraced Beto-mania. As Pfeiffer noted, there
is indeed a measurable grassroots swell behind O'Rourke. One recent national Politicopoll named
I This article was concerning
to me because it seems to
reprise the same low-quality
arguments that are non-the
him as third (h ttps ://www.politico.com/story/2018/ 11/ 12/poll-biden-bernie-beto-lead-2020- less attention grabbing and
harmful. The primaries
dems-983995) among potential Democratic Party presidential nominees. A recent You Gov/U
should be a good-faith
Mass 2020 poll found O'Rourke netting 10 percent debate over how best to
(https ://twitter .com/Forecaster En ten/status/ 106824802968845 9264) of Massachussetts achieve progressive ideals,
not a season of half-baked
Democratic voters, just a single point behind the state's own senator, the populist liberal Elizabeth hit pieces.
Warren. These voters, many of them likely liberal in political orientation, are matched in their
P.S. My longtime 2020
enthusiasm for O'Rourke by some of the party's most reactionary elements. favorites were Warren and
Booker, but Harris and
"He's game changing," Robert Wolf, a former top executive at the UBS investment bank and O'Rourke have grown on me.
Biden will always have a "big
Democratic mega-donor known to raise Wall Street cash for candidates, told
fucking" place in my heart,
(h ttps ://www.politico.com/story/2018/ 11/ 12/poll-biden-bernie-beto-lead-2020-dems- and shout out to Mitch
Landrieu. Because mayors
need 2020 love too!
P3

98399S)Politico. "Ifh e decides to run , he will be in the top five. You can't deny the electricity and
excitement around the guy."

"We are big Beto fans," th e Clintonit e think tank Third Way's Matt Benne tt told NBC
(https:/ /www .nbcn ews.com/politics/ elections/b etomania-wh y-democrats-ar e-crazy-their-
authentically-cool-senate-candida te-n921391) during his Senate run. "He's not with us on every
single thing , but his main campaign theme s have been very close to what we think a national
narrative shou ld be. And the happy warrior approach is just right for running against a horrible
person like Cruz or Trump."

Having spent nearly a decade reporting on American politic s, I can say there is something very odd
about "Beto-mania. " Typically, politicians have both elite friends and enemies, meaning donors,
activist organizations, lawmakers, and pundit s, within their own political party. O 'Rourke has
critics in the GOP - th ey successfully defeated him in Texas's Senat e race. But he shou ld
pr esumabl y also have critics within the elite functionari es in the D emocratic Party as well.
Elizabeth Warren and Berni e Sanders both have their elite critics across th e political spectrum. Th e
former is loathed by Wall Street, the latter is loathed by pretty much everyone who runs a
Democratic-aligned think tank or has a rolodex of party mega-donor s.

!ButO'Rourke , on the other hand , seems to have received nothing but praise from everyone from
;wanStreet donors like Wolf to Obama alumni like Pfeiffer to a large liberal following enamored by
his skateboarding at Whataburger (http s:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swiz fmPNrH8) and his
I So not only does the
illogical Beto's-supporters-
reflect-on-Beto thing
continue, but now it's just
passionat e defense of kneeling NFL players (https: //www .theguardian.com / us- comparing apples and
oranges. Warren and
n ews/video/ 2018/a ug/ 22/b eto-orourk e-nfl-prot ests-texas-video ). H e has becom e a uniting figure
Sanders are Senators, which
for D emocrats, beloved by all and loath ed by non e. What kind of D emocratic politician can be so already makes them vastly
more powerful (read: capable
adored?
of making enemies) than a
random House Rep., like
Mayb e one who rarely, if ever, challenged th e powerful. Beto. Despite Beto's political
irrelevance, even THIS
ARTICLE goes on to talk
about how Beto single-
Representing a Left-Wing handedly angered pro-Israel
groups (more on that later).

District But Embracing New

Democrat Politics
P4
This part is my favorite.
Since taking office in 2013,
There is no doubt that O'Rourke is a talented politician. His $60 million
Beto has "passed three
(https ://www.texastribune.org/2018/ 10/26/beto -orourke -ted-cruz-top-100 -million -fundraising- bills." If you follow the trail of
senate-race/) haul , much ofit from small donors, came from extremely aggressivecampaigning all cites, this goes back to a
Govtrack.us tool that lists
over the state of Texas, alongside a national donor base cultivated by signaling to culturally liberal only three enacted bills tied
activists. But a talented politician is not necessarily someone who has talent in governing. So what to Beto.

was Congressman O'Rourke like? So based on the same

website, how many bills has
In his six years in Congress, O'Rourke passed three bills "amendment king" Bernie
Sanders passed in the same
(https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/02/ted-cruz-beto-orourke-congressional-
time period? Just 3. Two
accomplisnments-texas/). Two were related to veterans issues, the third renamed a federal building
I
were related to veterans
issues, and the third
andcourtnouse. Of course, O'Rourke was in a GOP-dominated House , which would limit his
renamed some buildings.
effectiveness. But part of being effective as a Member of Congress is learning to deal with the (They're the same 3 bills,
environment you are in. Between 1995 and 2007, when the Republicans solidly held the House of people)
Turns out, it's hard for
Representatives, the lawmaker who passed the most amendments anybody to get anything
(h ttps :/ /www.politifact.com/ truth-o-meter /statements/2016/mar /24/bernie-s/bernie-sanders- done in this age of
unprecedented Republican
was-roll-call-amendment-king-1995-2 / ) was not a far-right Republican but instead Vermont's obstruction.
independent democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, dubbed an "amendment king." The firebrand
Florida Democrat Alan Grayson was similarly effective
(https://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2015/jul/14/alan -grayson/alan -grayson-says-he-
holds -record-passing -bills-an/) at writing and passing legislation.

But even if you're not passing bills or amendments, you can chair investigations and help uncover
important information that changes the debate in Washington. You can earn media appearances
and become a leader on major issues. You can help move legislation that isn't going to pass anytime
Here is the first of many
soon, but set it up for the future. strange indicts to Beto: He's
never challenged power,
O'Rourke was missing in action on virtually all of these areas, and rarely challenged concentrated except for that time he did
power in D.C.-exceQt during his initial run for Congress, in which he unseated a conservative challenge power.

emocrat Silvestre Reyes. Reyes was a proponent of America's drug war while O'Rourke favored
legalizing marijuana (https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2012/05/30/rep-silvestre -reyes-
I Whenever Beto does good
thing, Jilani minimizes them.
Whenever Beto does
blames-dir) to cut into the cartels' power. Reyes ran dirty campaign ads claiming O'Rourke was questionable things, Jilani
encouraging drug use among children. It didn't work, and O'Rourke's smart campaign tries to make them seem
central to who Beto is and
(https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/0S/border-war -beto-orourke-beats-silvestre -reyes/) what he stands for. It's a
was victorious. misleading, dishonest, and
disappointing tactic.
But it may have been the last time O'Rourke waged a sustained campaign against the Democratic
Not to mention that this
establishment. While the Democratic base is coalescing around single-payer health care and free whole proceeding paragraph
college, O'Rourke sponsored (http s://www.congres s.gov/bill/ 115th-congres s/house- seems to misunderstand the
power of a single House Rep.
who's in the minority party.
P5
More on this later.
bill/ 676/cosponsor s)neither (https://www.congres s.gov/bill/1 l5th-congres s/hou se-
bill/1880/cosponsor s) Hou se bill. During his time in Congress, he never joined (https:/ /cpc-
grijalva.house.gov/caucus-members/)the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He has been, however,
I
a memb er (https://n ewdemocratcoalition-him es.hous e.gov/ memb ers)of the N ew D emocratic
Caucus, the group organized to carry on the ideas of Clintonit e policies. During th e 2016
pr esidential primary, he stayed on th e sidelines.

If you'r e not familiar with O'Rourk e's district, you might chalk this all up to repr esenting a
conservative region. It's Texas, right? Our system is a repr esentativ e democracy with single memb er
districts, and lawmakers mu st repre sent politically diverse constituencies. Otherwi se, they risk
being thrown out. But Texas's 16th Congressional District is among the more liberal in the
It turns out, Texas' 16th
country. In 2016, O'Rourke netted 85 percent district isn't all that liberal.
htt s://ballotpedia.org/Texas'_l6th_ Congressional_District)of the vote, while a Libertarian
grabb ed 10 percent and a Green received 4 percent. Th ere was no R epublican candidat e. To be fair
I Sure, the Democrats have
historically gotten more votes,
but let's scroll up three
to O 'Rourk e, the 2014 election, a terrible year nationwid e for Democrats, was mor e risky for the paragraphs: Beto unseated a
conservative Democrat! Reyes
congr essman - that year he received only 67.5 percent of the vote. had represented the district for

iWhile O'Rourke steadily avoided left-wing legislation, he went above and beyond to ally himself to
thecorporate wing of the Democratic Party. In 2015, Congr ess narrowly gave President Obama so-
I 15 years.

called "Fast Track" authority as it related to the Trans-Pacific Partner ship. Thi s essentially greased
This is one of the lone
the skids for Obama to accept and implement this agreement, which many labor, consumer ,
substantive contributions of
human rights, and environmental advocates worried would vastly expand the power of investors this article. Yes, Beto is a
Democrat who generally
and corporation s and undermine U.S. sovereignty. The 219 to 211 vote in the House sent
supports free trade. There is
shockwaves through this community , and a foreboding sense that the TPP would become a reality a legitimate debate over
how to structure our trade
So close. I'm glad we got at least one trade issue in the door. I just wish it x th e TPP,
with other countries.
didn't sneakily conflate TPA with TPP to make it seem like Beto voted for high
drug prices.
Does this article
Democrats contribute to that
Inflating the price of life-saving medication in developing countries is
substantive debate?
morally abhorrent and we should certainly structure our trade policy to fix vas that of
that. In that vein , TPP contained some very concerning provisions on this
front. ·eally strong
But Beto didn't vote for the TPP. His vote came months before we knew 1arkets up for
any specifics of the TPP proposal. The TPA was just a procedural vote that
)bs in El
banned amendments to TPP when it came to a vote. If TPP was poorly
structured , Beto could just vote against it when it came for a vote.
-trade-its-
about-helping-corporations / )agreements with a majority of TPP countries. What eo ulists liKe
iWarrenand Sanders feared most about die TPP was its vast expansion of patent and copyright
rotections-which could lock in arduous high drug_2rices, among other things. Regardless, I
P6
I love the phrase "these sorts
O'Rourke continues to be a defender of these sorts of agreements. During his Senate run, the local of agreements." Jilani doesn't
cite a single concerning provision
press noted (https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2017 /11/23/ted-cruz-beto-orourke-
of NAFTA that overlaps TPP
agree-dire-outcome-nafta-dies-senator-likes-trumps-border-wall)that he and Cruz essentially agreed (which, again, Beto never voted
for). All we have is the suggestion
on the merits of die North American Free Trade greement.
that all free trade agreements are
the same.

L.O. L. The use of "essentially" is pretty important here, because Cruz and Beto really only agree on the "essentials" of NAFTA: that
there should generally be a lot of minimally restricted trade between our neighbors. The NAFTA debate, more than any other free trade
agreement debate , really depends on the details. It is most certainly a debate worth having , but if the debate stops at "Free Trade Bad,
Bernie Good" we aren't dealing with the issue.
We can learn a lot about why O'Rourke doesn't challenge the eowerful by looking at the one time
e did,briefly. In the summer of 2014, the Israeli military and militants in Gaza were engaged in
prolonged warfare. Almost all of the suffering was falling on the
I It's strange to call it the
"one-time," even though its
(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28439404) Palestinians, whose small arms and already the second example
improvised rockets were no match for the modern might of the Israeli army. This might is cited in THIS ARTICLE.

subsidized by the American taxpayer, who delivers billions of dollars

Wow, one of only eight in the
(https://explorer.usaid.gov/cd/ISR) of aid to Israel on an annual basis. whole Congress! That is some
seriously concentrated power he
During the conflict, Congress voted to provide funds to re-supply Israel's Iron Dome system, stood up to.

which helps protect it against projectile attacks. But there is no reason why Israel itself cannot But remember that
provide the funds to protect its citizenry during conflicts that keep occurring partly because it Congressional Progressive
Causus mentioned earlier? The
refuses to respect the human rights of Palestinians-and America stepping in to pick up the tab
one Jilani impliedly faults Beto for
essentially shields Israelis from one of the financial costs of maintaining their occupation. not joining? Let's see how they
voted.
O'Rourke was one of eight Members of Congress to oppose the Iron Dome funding, a groue that
Of the current caucus
;wase ually split along bipartisan lines. "I could not in good conscience vote for borrowing $225 members, 57 were in the House
million more to send to Israel, without debate and without discussion, in the midst of a war that when the Iron Dome funding bill
was voted on. How many voted
has cost more than a thousand civilian lives already, too many of them children," he wrote against it?
(https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/01/friends-israel)defending his vote. It was a
2.
defiant act, and for once, Congressman O'Rourke was willing to stand almost alone in the face of a
powerful political force, America's pro-Israel lobby. Zoe Lofgren and Keith Ellison.

But that bravery did not last long. Pro-Israel activists, including one of O'Rourke's top donors, To review, we start this Israel
discussion with Beto casting a
oenounced him in the local ress. Others reached out to him privately to encourage him to return more progressive vote than 95%
to the pro-Israel consensus. And he returned quickly. He enthusiastically voted for all future aid to of the Congressional Progresssive
Caucus. Proceed.
= =nd courted (https:/ /mondoweiss.net/2014/ 10/congressman-expressed-undergoes/)the
w,,:,:...,
Remember when
I could live with the unfounded "enthusiastically" modifier, but when there isn't a vote cited it
Beto used to not
feels like nothing more than an outright lie. In all the articles cited in this paragraph, its clear that
have any enemies?
Beto went to a lot of meetings and tried to console a bunch of Jewish groups. As much as
Boy, those were the
Forward would love to tout the power of the pro-Israel lobby, even they can't cite a key vote of
days.
Beto's after all that engagement.
P7

"H e's a good guy, but he didn't know how the Jewish community would react," Dani el Cheifec,
executive director of the J ewish Federation of El Paso, told the Forward
(ht tps://forward.com/news/ israel/206542/how-the-israel-lobby-set-beto-orou rke-
right/.VC2mS _ dJQyU.twitter ). "Now he knows that this community is not going to be very
happy ifhe screws up again." By Cheifec's definition, O'Rourke certainly hasn't screwed up since.
He didn't even co-sponsor meager legislation introduced by a handful of progressive House
Democrats that would bar aid to Israeli units who abuse children. (Massachusetts' Seth Moulton,
who has been a vigorous advocate for the finance and national security hawk wing of the
D emocrats, is a sponsor (https://www.congress.gov/bill/llSth-congress/house-
bill/ 4391/cosponsors) ).

So, there's this weird thing where Jilani expresses concern over fetishizing racial and gender labels, and then it kind of
feels like Jilani proceeds to do just that.

I'm sure if Jilani had a chance to respond, he'd say he was just trying to distinguish their socio-economic differences.
But it's kind of hard to accept that when her gender and race are repeatedly emphasized.

Here's the strange part: this article is the WORST form of identity fetishization. The identity of a political candidate does
matter because it shapes how they will govern. But we need to always be discussing WHY it matters , rather than just
putting people in categories and making generalizations. Hernandez actually does a great job of explaining why her
identity and the experiences that came with it mattered in the election, but that's not the part of her interview that Jilani
quotes.

Much to the alarm of humanist olitical activists lilie myself, die Democratic Party lias increasingly
embraced sectarian_politics,....Pa
rticularly by fetishizing racial and gender labels as it chooses
candidates.Yet the same Demo cratic Party that used these sort of attacks to sink Bernie Sanders in
2016 rallied early behind Beto O'Rourke, a straight white man, even when he faced a young Latina
I
opponent.

You probably don't know the name Serna Hernandez. (She may not even know how to
skateboard.) But the 32-year-old Houston activist and self-described "Berniecrat " net ted 24
percent in Texas's Democratic Senate primary, despite raising less than $10,000 to O 'Rourke 's $9
million.

Hernandez is the child of immigrants, a first-generation Mexican American who struggles to afford

I
healthcare and ran her cam_paignon a shoestring budget. O 'Rourke, on the other hand, was born
into a wealthy Texas_political family, attended Columbia University, and has a business background
in Internet start-1:!.PS·
(O'Rourke's criminal charges in his 20s may also be relevant : The son of a A couple of these details
are exaggerated, but
judge and county commissioner, he was not prosecuted
compared to the rest of the
(ht tps://dfw .cbslocal.com/20 18/ 10/ 02/questions -persist-bet o-orourke -drunk -driving-crash/) for article they might as well be
an inciden t in which allegedly (https: //www .dallasnews.com/ news/ politics/2 018/ 08/3 1/beto- scientific facts.

orourke-faces-new-questions-1998-dwi-arrest-punk-rock-phase) fled the scene

PB
Oh boy, where to start. As
far as I can tell, his father
(https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Police-reports-detail-Beto-O-
was neither a judge nor a
Rourke-s-1998-13195088.php) of a drunken crash. Tl:iere is no evidence that fiis fatl:ieractually
intervenecf,out the justice system as a ten ency to give wealtl:iywfiite Ivy Leaguers second chances
that others do not get.) He is married to the daughter
I commissioner when this
incident occurred. Indeed,
there is absolutely no
evidence of anything
(https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/us/politics/beto-orourke-el-paso-texas-senate.html) of untoward. That is important.

billionaire real estate developer William D. Sanders ("the richest man in El Paso There is a meaningful
(https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Beto-O-Rourke-s-ties-to-his- difference between actual
corruption and privilege. It is
wealthy-family-13302228.php )")-whose development plan in downtown El Paso O'Rourke inappropriate to so recklessly
vigorously championed, against the protests of many local residents. During his run for Senate, his suggest that O'Rourke or his
family brokered favors.
disclosures (https ://www.texastribune.org/2018/ 10/ 04/disclosures-give-details-personal-finances-
ted-cruz-beto-orourke/) showed that O'Rourke's assets are somewhere in the range of $3.5 to $16 Still, its hard to imagine
that Beto, as a well-
million, thanks to renta l and commercial real estate as well as his wife's trust fund.
educated , locally loved ,
white guy, didn't benefit from
O'Rourke's wealth and connections helped him crush Hernandez (except in poorer, heavily his identity in terms of the
Mexican American districts in South Texas, which Hernandez won). The national Democratic mercy he was shown. As
Jilani discusses later, Beto's
party and even progressive media outlets ignored her. O'Rourke essentially treated her as a story is not a story of
nuisance, refusing to debate her, and Hernandez reports that when she met with him after the overcoming hardships like
Obama. If he tried that kind
primary, he refused to make commitments (http://progressivearmy.com/2018/03/29/sema-
of campaign narrative, it
hernandez-on-meeting-with-orourke-the-democratic-party-and-her-future-in-texas-politics/) on would be disingenuous and
probably unsuccessful.
important progressive issues. Hernandez's account of their meeting should be read by any member
of the left who considers O'Rourke a reliable ally: But that isn't the narrative
Beto has been pursuing. One
SH· He kept staring at me with hif hand to hif chin. I told him, "How do you expect people to vote of the few things Jilani and I
agree on, is that the
for you, if you vote against UJ?If you votefor a seven hundred billion dollar military budget that if Hernandez interview is worth
reading. In further
not earmarked for Vets?When that money could have been used for Medicare for all or collegefor
discussions not quoted by
all or a list of other things." I mentioned I didn't like how he followed the DCCC script on Jilani, Beto explains how he
views his privilege in relation
Medicare for all. He countered that he doe.Jnot follow Party line.J.He took offense and explained
to why he thinks he should
why he did not sign on to H.R. 676(https://www.congress.gov/bill/11Sth-congress/house- run for office. It's a narrative
about weaponizing his
bill/676) becauseprivate health care would not get paid. I asked him to cosponsorHR. 676 even if privilege to serve the
underprivileged (i.e. the
he doesn't think it will pass. It's a show of good faith and support for Medicare for all. He told me
generally right answer).
that he WM not going to sign HR. 676just because it if what people want or because it if popular .... I
In all Beta's talk of his
asked him to explain why he WM running, why he got into the race. I don't have healthcare. I do not
criminal 20s, he clearly
have a good paying job. Our familie.J and our communitie.J are impacted more than he if. appreciates how lucky he is
to have gotten a second (and
third) chance. His good luck
Interviewer: What did he say? is not a reason to reject him
as a leader, until the day he
takes that fortune for
granted.
pg

SH· He said he iJ running becausehe believe1every Texan and person in the USA deserve1
affordablehealthcare,schooling,and ways to support their family. I expecteda candid responseand I
got his campaignspeech.I wanted to get to know him tU a person and instead I got what you see on
television, a politician. I treated him with respect,I wcu honest and blunt. After all of that I wanted
more.

Unlike O'Rourke, Hernandez ran on an unflinching support

(https://twitter.com/ _semahernandez_/status/970410723598852096)for the Sanders platform of
universal college and higher education. O'Rourke's support for similar politics was, like his
opposition to needlessly funding the Israeli military, fleeting. When he first announced his Senate
run, he said (https://www.facebook.com/betoorourke/posts/we-need-a-single-payer-healthcare- Say it with me: Healthcare
system-for-all-americans-its-the-only-way-to-e/ 136407 616030875 7/)we "need a single-payer is complicated. Turns out,
Medicare for all, or even
healthcare system for all Americans." As his campaign progressed, his language on healthcare did, single-payer, may not be the
too. A year after O'Rourke said we need single-payer, Politiconoted best way to ensure that
healthcare is a right. I'm
(https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07 /14/beto-orourke-texas-senate-health-care-november- looking forward to a great
675953)that the congressman slyly changed his wording on health care issues. He stoeeed using debate in the primary over
how best to do that. Let's not
the plirases Medicare for All or single- ayer, and instead would tell crowds we need "universal, start this conversation by
guaranteea,higli-qualicy liealth care for all." His Senate cam aign eage eventually settleo making "single-payer" the
shibboleth of progressivism.
(https://betofortexas.com/issue/healthcare/)on saying that we could have single- ayer, or maybe

something com letely different. The age lists all kinds of health care olicies, from incentivizing This page does not say that
Beto is considering a turn away
insurers to join the exchanges to creating a_public oetion to "achieving universal healthcare
form universal healthcare. Instead,
coverage-whether it be through a single ayer system, a dual system, or otherwise-so that we can its a list of policies that would
improve the ACA in the meantime.
ensure everyone is able to see a provider when it will do the most good and will deliver healthcare in
Followed by an unwavering
the most affordable, effective way possible." There is reason to suspect that when the time comes, commitment to universal
it's that "or otherwise" we'll see O'Rourke advocating. healthcare, even if it isn't
accomplished through single
payer or a dual system.
O'Rourke continued to o this dance wid i progressive issues on the campaign trail. In September
oflast year, a student newspaper (https://utdmercury.com/qa-beto-orourke/)decided to press Let's give a name to this
dance. I'll call it the: "I'm
O'Rourke on the issue of free college, which Sanders had energized a generation of Americans to
progressive but I don 't agree with
back-more Republicans voters now support (https://theintercept.com/2017 /09/21/free-college- Bernie on everything" dance. It is
tuition-republicans-bernie-sanders/)the idea than oppose it. The congressman said he liked the a dance we should expect from
literally every person who is not
idea "alot," but then ivoted to some odd Clinton-esque neoliberal itch for national student Bernie Sanders.

As a general rule, if you're going to invoke a term as ambiguous and misunderstood as "neoliberal," please explain it a little further.
Not only is there a legitimate debate over how to make college affordable, but I'm also very comfortable saying that Beto just has the
better policy idea here.
I'm a big supporter of trusting more and more functions to democratic institutions, which is the government most times. I think such a
vision requires establishing strong pipelines from colleges into government work that interrupt the consulting/law firm pipeline . A civil
service program the ensures free college in exchange for government service seems like a fantastic way to get two birds with one stone.
I'd love to hear why we should pay to educate somebody who 's just going to go work for a major multinational corporation.
P10

I Like the idea a lot. One, we know that it can predict earning potential in taxeJ that they pay, and

two, we know it can - to some degree - predict someones ability to Liveup to and fulfill their

potential. I would Lovefor there to be some way that all of U.J not only receive the benefit of a great

education without taking on debt, but theres also some sacrifice made by every young American and

one of the things that I'd Loveto work, with especially young people, on because they would be the

oneJ that we would ask to serve ir some kind of national service bill or national service program that

may or may not be connected to ones education but ensureJ that everyone hM the chance not only to

Learn and succeed in that way, but to serve and to sacrifice and succeed in that way M well, so with

some of the other members of Congress those two things could be connected.

It should be noted that the event was hosted by, aE?E?roE?riately,

No Labels - the n eoliberal It's almost as if Beto can
organization which purports to be nonpartisan but loudly complained
(https://theintercept.com/2018/03/30/dan-lipinski-marie-newman-no-labels-illinois-primary-
I attend an event without
endorsing everything the
host organization has ever
done. I'm not sure why
election/)in leaked emails that Bernie Sanders was not a Democrat.
Current Affairs published
such a silly piece, but I'd bet
The fact that O'Rourke has inh erited wealth and connect ions does not mean he cannot be a Jilani doesn't agree with
progressive legislator. After all, Franklin Roosevelt was incredibly rich and Goldman Sachs every position ever espoused
by Current Affairs.
executive Lloyd Blankfein grew up poor. But it tells us somet hin g disturbing about American
in e uality that O'Rourke could sail through his 20s doing very little (exce t laying in a band,
dabbling in business, and getting arrested), be showered with millions in donation s for mouthing After reading this

latitudes, and defeat a working-class Latina candidate supportin g genuin e progressive causes.
O'Rourke's background could also prove to be a political liability that Barack Obama did not have.
I sentence, I'd understand if
you thought Beto was
suddenly running for Senate
in his early 30s. Turns out,
Obama's upbringing included many trials of overcoming personal adversity, and his inspiring life
after missteps in his 20s, he
story-told in two bestselling books -forme d a major part of the case for his candidacy. served on the El Paso City
Council for 8 years, before
O'Rourke's nature as a privileged son-in-law may make him a far less sympathetic cand idate.
serving in the U.S. House of
Representatives for 6 more.

Controlling Our Elephant The "working-class Latina

candidate" (who has a name
Jilani could use if he was
concerned about fetishizing
her identity. It's Serna
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt once (http://sourcesofinsight.com/the-elephant-and-the-
Hernandez, by the way), had
rider/) described human thinking as that of an emotional elephant with a rational rider. Our never served in a political
emot ional side is the elephant, and has a great deal of control over how we feel, no matter how hard office, let alone run for one.
That might explain why he
our rational side pulls on the reins. won the nomination.
P 11
Does rebuking the NFL,
O'Rourke's Senate candidacy was the ultimate psychological elephant. He was well-spoken, the President, and the sitting

optimistic, good-looking, and he was uicK to endorse cultural memes im ortant to the national
liberal base. His eloquent defense of kneeling NFL players was an instance of him diving headfirst
I Senator count as rebuking
concentrated power? If so, I
think we're onto example
number 3.
into a symbolic culture war controversy, ticking off all the boxes contemporary liberals look for:
embrace of diversity, condemnation of racism, and describing the sins of the nation.

It's wasn't surprising that Ted Cruz quickly took O'Rourke 's position and used it to motivate his
own base. Both sides had much to gain from rallying for something that is ultimate ly symbolic and
emotional: Kneeling on a football field doesn't necessarily reform the criminal justice system, and
standing tall for the national anthem doesn't necessarily do anything for the men and women of
Yes. We should definitely
the armed forces. But both sides passionately and emotionally believed they were contributing to question his qualifications. That
those causes. is a debate to be had.

Though, this is a strange

Which perhaps is the best analogy for O'Rourke 's sudden popularity. He has ticked the right
argument to invoke after being so
emotional boxes for liberals, and they feel like by supporting him they are projecting an image of a incredulous that Beto defeated
Serna, who had absolutely zero
younger, more optimistic, and more progressive America. But nothing in O'Rourke's short and
experience serving in
uneventfu LPolitical career suggests that he suddenly has the qualifications to oversee a nuclear government. I know President is
arsenal, conduct di lomacy with friends and enemies, a oint the next head of the U.S. Treasury, a far-cry from Senator, but
Senator is also a far-cry from no
or manage the disaster response of a national emergency. government experience.

The next president should be someone with a record of sticking their neck out against
concentrated power, someone who lias made tough decisions even wlien it may anger donors and
ipoliticalelites, and someone wlio lias accomplisliea a great eal of actual tangible real cliange in the
iWorld.
There are number of people who fit that description, but it's difficult to say O'Rourke is
I
one of them.

I would be very curious to see who Jilani thinks satisfies all three of these criteria.
If he can find politicians who stick their necks out, I bet they either moderated their position or didn't get anything done.
Even if he could find examples of successful political courage, it would be all to easy to cherry pick counter-examples and
sully anybody Jilani reveres. (Bernie's long time positions on gun control, perhaps)

Speaking of Beta's record of sticking his neck out, it's worth pointing to something that wasn't mentioned in the article. In
the Sama Hernandez interview that was cited, she faults Beto for voting for a budget that didn't include statutory protections
for DREAMers. Sure, Beto could have demanded a legislative solution last year. It's worth mentioning, that he did demand
one years earlier.

When Obama announced the DAPA expansion of DACA, Beto opposed it. Not because he didn't agree with the principle of
the policy, but because he wanted it to be enshrined in statute. Beta's concerns were prophetic. Not only was DAPA struck
down by a court (who also thought a statute was needed), but the election of Trump also allowed DACA to be erased by an
executive order. (One court stopped that executive order, but the Supreme Court may say otherwise) Beto PUBLICLY
rebuked a president from his own party for not going far enough to protect DREAMers and their parents.
Based on this article and the materials it cites, it seems clear that Beto will not retreat from his progressive beliefs, even if
they don't perfectly line up with our lord and savior, the amendment king himself, Bernard Sanders.