Beto O'Rourke

Another candidate announced this week for the Democratic presidential nomination. To the surprise of no one, Beto O'Rourke of El Paso, Texas joined the crowded fray.

I like O'Rourke a great deal, but I have no idea if he would make a good president. He has a lot of intangibles, such as looking like Bobby Kennedy, managing to campaign without wearing a necktie, and playing in a punk band in his youth. In the campaign, as long as he lasts, he will be the cool older brother with the great record collection.

Most reactions to his candidacy by the mainstream media are not good. He is chided for having no particular ideas, and is called glib and shallow. I will say this--he almost beat Ted Cruz in Texas, which either says a lot about O'Rourke or a lot about Texas.

O'Rourke was born and raised in El Paso, and his nickname (his real name is Robert Francis, just like RFK) is a Spanish nickname for Robert, as El Paso is heavily Latino. Does this give him honorary status among the Latin voters? We'll see.

He spent three terms in Congress, and if he doesn't have any ideas, he does have positions. He is singing to the choir with his stances on abortion, guns, immigration, civil rights, marijuana and campaign reform. Ontheissues.org classifies him as a "hardcore liberal," though of the candidates he voted with Republicans more than most. I imagine this is because El Paso is not a hotbed of liberalism, and I suspect he will be freed to campaign nationally far to the left of what he did in El Paso.

O'Rourke is 46 years old, which is about the same age as Kennedy and Obama were when elected, and he seems to have quite a bit of both them in his style. I'd like to hear from him in the debates, especially on foreign policy, and I might be swayed by him. I think I would enjoy living in an O'Rourke presidency.