Cultural left turn shot star Beto O’Rouke back to earth

Beto O'Rourke addresses his supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, after announcing he was dropping out of the presidential race on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

A certain presumptuousness, even wilfulness, is essential for anyone who wants to be US president, but when does that quality become too much to take?

Perhaps we found out with Beto O’Rourke, who chose to run for America’s highest office after losing a Senate race, but dropped out on Saturday having failed to attract much support.

O’Rourke did have his moments, in particular when he first announced in March. His support reached 10 per cent of Democrats at one point, and the 47-year-old former congressman from El Paso raised $US6.1m on the first day of his campaign — a feat topped only by former vice-president Joe Biden. What happened?

One irony is that O’Rourke was a victim of the media idolaters who made him famous when he was trying to unseat Republican senator Ted Cruz in 2018. In that race the press celebrated O’Rourke’s vague aspirational progressivism. But once he joined the presidential race he was mocked as too gauzy and insubstantial against fellow Democrats.

Rather than build on his moderately liberal voting record in the House of Representatives, O’Rourke attempted to get to the left of a crowded field of committed progressives — especially on cultural issues.

Last summer he averred that he’d take down what walls already exist between Mexico and the US. He signalled approval for slavery reparations and made denunciations of racism and white supremacy a centrepiece of his campaign. He announced his support for a mandatory gun buyback — that is, the confiscation of lawfully owned firearms.

Last month he said he’d favour revoking the tax-exempt status of churches if they failed to adopt the current progressive view of marriage.

None of it worked, perhaps because it’s impossible to get further left than Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. O’Rourke’s moral denunciations on the stump were passionate yet also came across as somewhat calculated. Authenticity still counts in politics.

The Wall Street Journal