To Beto Or Not To Beto

With presidential candidates announcing themselves left and right, I bring to you another opinion article on a different candidate. “A Bad Day for Beto” was written by Josh Marshall and posted on talkingpointsmemo.com. Josh Marshall is the founder and editor of Talking Points Memo which has been active since 2000. The New York Times Magazine regarded Marshall’s blog as "one of the most popular and most respected sites." In this article, Marshall writes to anyone interested in the upcoming political campaigns, maybe more specifically those who will be eligible voters at the time of our next presidential election.

Beto O’Rourke announced his presidential candidacy on Thursday, March 14, 2019, and received several endorsements. According to Marshall, these endorsements are from Representative Kathleen Rice, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, Rep. Veronica Escobar, and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. Also, according to Marshall, these endorsements are coming from people who are Democratic centrists. A Democratic centrist being someone who is more moderate than liberal within the Democrat party. Marshall seems to think that those hoping for this type of president run few and far between and Beto allowing himself to be painted in this sort of light will lead to his loss. He believes a successful Dem candidate will appeal to the left while not allowing themselves to be controlled by the left. Beto coming across as a centrist candidate will certainly not win over any Bernie voters.

What I find interesting is the comparison between Josh Marshall’s point of view and the point of view of Matt Welch who wrote “Bernie Sanders already moved Democrats to the left. Why is he running again?” which I discussed in my last post. Welch took the stance that Bernie was too liberal, too progressive to gain any follow-through that would secure him the presidency. Here, Marshall is saying Beto is too ‘center-of-the-road’ to make Democrat voters want him in office. In my opinion, it might be too early to tell which type of candidate will succeed in bringing out supporters and voters to help give the Democratic party a win. And let’s not forget that there are other candidates who have announced and possibly more to come. I will say that I agree with Marshall more than I agree with Welch. I can see voters saying Beto isn’t enough, despite the support he seemed to garner during his run for Senate, though he lost. Voters want to be inspired and want to see change. Can Beto promise that while enjoying the comfort of the middle?

Op-Ed Rundown - Do you feel the Bern?

Matt Welch is the author of an article on the Los Angeles Times entitled “Bernie Sanders already moved Democrats to the left. Why is he running again?” published on February 20, 2019. Matt Welch is a self-proclaimed independent who is editor at large for Reason, a libertarian magazine and previously served as editor in chief from 2008-2016. Welch has covered many political topics and even references previous articles he’s written in this article.  I say all this to say, who is Welch writing to in this case? I believe he is directing his commentary towards the Democratic party; perhaps those who might be rooting for Bernie, excited to see him take another shot at the presidency. Or perhaps he’s simply writing to those who are also asking, “Why is he running again?”

Seeing that Welch is an independent, I wasn’t surprised to read that there are some Bernie policies he supports, and some that he disapproves. Welch feels that Bernie got to where he did in the previous presidential race due to the fact that he was more genuine than Hillary Clinton. He states that most Democrats didn’t, and still don’t, truly agree with Bernie’s proclamations for free education, single-payer health care, a higher minimum wage, etc. But because Clinton was more calculated with her approach, Democrats were flocking to the option that seemed more authentic. Bernie truly believes in his platform and Democrats were starving for that sort of passion.

Welch claims that Americans feel the policies Bernie advocates for are not cost effective. He points out that Vermont passed single-payer healthcare and then promptly did away with it due to cost. He also points out that Maryland tried the “Millionaire Tax” which proved ineffective because those millionaires would simply move away. Welch paints doubt in the hope that Bernie could win the election and succeed in delivering on his hopes and dreams for America. This can reasonably cast uncertainty into the minds of some supporters.

Matt goes on to say that Bernie’s platform has inspired enough Democrats that small positive changes can be seen already and that should be a win in Bernie’s book. He says that progressive Democrats will not see the success that more moderate Democrats can achieve. I’ve seen this argument before. “Slow and steady wins the race,” the idea that you can get farther with small compromises rather than large and rapid reform. And this may be true. But I have also heard the argument that our current system doesn’t need small fixer-uppers here and there, we need massive reform to see true, long-lasting change. And change is what we need because what we have going on now clearly isn’t working.

I don’t know if Mr. Welch’s opinion could sway anyone to look at Bernie’s presidential race any differently. From what I know of Bernie fans, they “Bern” hard for him. Many millennials already lean to the left and would love nothing more than to achieve the things on Bernie’s platform. If nothing else, we love a candidate who cares about the things that we care about and is fighting to make sure that more than the rich and white thrive while living in America. That’s something worth voting for in my book. For those against Bernie, all this did is reaffirm their reasons for voting against him because Welch certainly didn't pose him in a positive light overall.