Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President

Hoo boy. Beto O'Rourke, who tried unsuccessfully to defeat Ted Cruz for a Texas Senate seat in the last election, has announced that he, too, is running for president.

In his announcement tweet, he says: "I am running to serve you as the next president. The challenges we face are the greatest in living memory. No one person can meet them on their own. Only this country can do that, and only if we build a movement that includes all of us."

I still see neither the possibility nor the purpose of building a movement that includes Nazis, and I am not interested in trying.

At the end of the tweet, he links to his campaign website, where his all-caps slogan reads: "WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER." Which sounds a whole lot like "Stronger Together," except not as good.

Yesterday, in a feature for Vanity Fair headlined "Is Beto O'Rourke Actually Unlikeable?" hahahahaha just kidding that was the headline they used for Elizabeth Warren's profile.

Yesterday, in a feature for Vanity Fair headlined "I'm Just Born to Do This" (yes, really), O'Rourke said: "The government at all levels is overly represented by white men. ...That's part of the problem, and I'm a white man. So if I were to run, I think it's just so important that those who would comprise my team looked like this country."

Very cool, bro. I love the idea that a white man still gets to lead, but everyone who works for him gets to be diverse and shit.

I love it even more when the guy who says it also says, "I'm just born to do this." I guess so, because you sure haven't worked your tits off for decades to do it!

If it sounds like I'm salty about O'Rourke running, that's because I am. I significantly soured on O'Rourke after reading his theory that it's cool for him to run as long as he hires marginalized people, when, as far as I can tell, he brings absolutely nothing to the table that Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julián Castro, and Pete Buttigieg don't except being a straight white guy.

And, perhaps, not having been in the public eye long enough to have "baggage" that can be used against him. Of course, that also means he has less experience.

Which, by the way, doesn't mean I think Beto O'Rourke should "go away." It means I think he could serve in other capacities than president. And should.

One of the easiest (and also most important) things that white people can do to dismantle white privilege is to not.

Sometimes we just have to not.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 13, 2019

There is contentment and honor in supporting other people.

You don't always have to lead to make a difference.

Sometimes you can make an even bigger difference by stepping aside and using your talents to uplift someone else.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 13, 2019

He could just not. And I wish he would.