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?