Among the gazillion Democrats now running for president, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who announced his candidacy today, is the most unformed.
His brief tenure in the House gives few clues as to his politics, though he did support centrist Democrat Seth Moulton's challenge to Nancy Pelosi for House Democratic leader in 2016. His relatively near-miss challenge to Republican Senator Ted Cruz was due in no small measure to Beto's charisma and Cruz's lack thereof, but also to the rapidly changing demographics of the Texas electorate.
Beto's extended musings before he announced today, and the announcement itself, provide equally infinitesimal guidance as to his politics. We know he supported the NFL players who took a knee. He's against the border wall and assault weapons, for granting citizenship to many undocumenteds and for some form of universal health coverage. That's about it.
In theory, participating in the primary debates, and being confronted by questions from voters and reporters on the campaign trail will compel him to say something more specific about what he'd hope to do as president.
In practice: Who knows? As the story on his declaration of candidacy in today’s Washington Post notes, “When asked [during his Senate campaign] about policy on the campaign trail, O’Rourke often answered not with a specific remedy, but with a call for Texans to solve the problem together, allowing him to remain vague in many of his positions.”
It's hard not to get the feeling that he'll ask voters to vote for him because, well, he's Beto. In an interview with him that Vanity Fair just posted, when asked about the presidential contest, he replied, “Man, I’m just born to be in it.”
You have to hope Democratic voters ask a little more of him than that.
