Refreshing to read his entries. Its a road diary and hardly a work of literature as some of the comments seem to imply snidely. To just have a real person as President would be so refreshing. Beto I think you should run - even if this is not your time you will learn much and lay the ground work for a stronger attempt at a later time.
Go Beto — by expanding Bernie’s too short two-word campaign slogan “Political Revolution” (“Against what, Bernie?”) — into the revolutionary “Common Sense” like Pat would have shouted-out, it Tom had taken the Paine to edit his rallying-cry:
“Give us Liberty (from Empire) or Give is Death”
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‘Beto’ may be a clever nickname but he’s got a long way to go if he wants to be a real contender in 2020.
Qualities such as honesty, humility and steadfastness may just make a leader out of a man-child, who struggled as an artist and a nanny in NYC in his early years (See other NYT article from today).
However, grinding it out on the streets of Brooklyn with a very diverse lot ranging from ‘musician hopefuls’ to Hasidic Jews, he might have developed the chutzpah to carry on in the long, arduous trek to 2020.
Good luck, Mr. O’Rourke!
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I love Beto, and I’m 70. He has the ‘it’ factor. There are 84 million Millenials, most of whom that would get very excited about him, look no further than his recent Senate run. He could self-fund. We no longer want corporate money, they are the enemy, representing everything wrong in politics. Our Dem party needs that, we need Beto. He has a heart, he’s honest to a fault.
That said, I’d love to see him as a VP, he’d help win.
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His writings make me cringe. It’s like a high schooler trying to write artsy prose.
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What I perceive is that he does not believe "it is all about him" which is very refreshing. There is a need and a place in this country for him - I'm just not sure that "President" is the place just yet.
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I agree with George Will about him being a man-child.
Beto's writing is pretty mundane, especially for a literature major.
Where was his wife and their 3 kids while he was driving around on his road trip?
Sorry, I have no interest in this guy for a presidential run at all. Trump would destroy him, and he has little to run on. He doesn't even have a law degree.
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Too soon, Beto..we need someone not still searching for his sea legs...with a solid plan and focus to carry it out.
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Beto, talk to Nancy Pelosi and learn what it takes to hang tough in politics. Then decide if you want to run. A fresh new voice is what this country yearns for, but it’s a dirty tricks right wing nightmare out there. Look at Virginia, and beware.
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Hype aside, the man seems to have his priorities right. But the truck? He can speak of global warming and still drives a truck?
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@J Norris
Well, at least he isn't flying around in a private jet!
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Vacuous nonsense. He'd spend lots of time driving down the road, lost in going nowhere thoughts. This is a clown, not a candidate, but the clown who's in office now surely inspires such idiocy. What next, Oprah? Whatever happened to commonsense? Maybe a person, man or woman, needs to get an education how governments work, who's our friend, who's not and doesn't want to be, and do what is necessary to eliminate a catastrophe that threatens the very existence of our species. Someday, we might look in the mirror and notice a very similar physical structure of our species and other similar species, but we're so terrified of dying we had to create life after this one, it was then when things started getting not just unusual, but weird as weird can be, and this O'Rourke character is just another weirdo doing stuff that gets him attention. He's not going to be president, but why are such creatures noticed by the New York Times anyway?
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Nice kid. Should have stayed in college. Not going anywhere.
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As self-absorbed as Trump in a different way. Classic White privilege. Bobby (likes to use Beto) married an Anglo real estate billionaire's daughter in Hispanic El Paso TX. While on City Council there, he advocated using the power of govenment to condemn Hispanic homeowners in a downtown barrio. Turns out the big "urban renewal" attempt was to be a pork barrel project for daddy-in-law. He had to finally admit the scheme and back off displacing Hispanic homeowners from their affordable housing. Posturing as a liberal Democrat is a "Blue Wash". This guy is pure privilege with no substance. A kind of guy who would drink, drive, have a wreck, and then try to run away.....
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@carrucio I don't get the "self-absorbed as Trump" critique. Beto is obviously really open to people and wants to know about their experiences. His desire to learn and his appreciation for people is about as opposite from Trump as you can get. Narcissists only care about themselves. Beto is as opposite from that as I have seen in a politician.
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Beto is honest , unlike many politicians .
Some would be trying to figure out how to get rich if they were to become president .
Beto is keeping in touch with his values and honesty many can’t understand that . If they would have listens to him it was clear he was not a person to sell out , but cared for the people and his intelligence reflected integrity ..It was so refreshing and the contrast to the slick lying , sell out brown nose competition was clear .
One wonders if an honest person with real values can ever win . It appears being without morals is a big requirement to run nowadays.
I would vote for Beto and know that he would be running for the good of our country and people not for money and kissing up for political gain . But can that ever work again????
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Aimless, stuck, exhausted, in and out of a funk......not exactly good buzz words for the CV of one running for president.
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Whoa he is so cool. Give me a break, I refuse to act like a 12 year old.
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beto....will you read this?..I am a lawyer, my wife is a doctor...we have 5 adult children, we were all politically active in years past. Our support of the democratic party goes back to when my father was a campaign manager for George McGovern. We worked for Obama in 2008 and wrote to him and asked for our money back in 2012 after he sent more troops to afghanistan and busted people for pot. We did nothing for Clinton other than vote for her....you are the one candidate that can get us back involved with the democratic party...please run for president, we will support you in every way we can, thanks.
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"Skeptics believe the entries have reinforced a caricature of Mr. O’Rourke as a politician with his head in the clouds."
Reminds me of when Mike Royko (Chicago Tribune) gave Governor Jerry Brown the label "Moonbeam," for the same reason. The nickname stuck and Mr. Brown went on be regarded as one of America's most effective governors, of America's largest state. Twice. (Mr. Royko, being no fool, eagerly admitted he'd been wrong.)
5
I would vote for him in heart beat. This Country is going to lose itself without some honest, intelligent, public servants. This man is "for the people".
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His writing is dull and self-indulgent.
Reminds of me what Truman Capote said of "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. "That's not writing. It's typing"
Beto has not demonstrated serious professional accomplishment his entire life. Drifting from punk rock to semi-profitable tech business to coasting as a small town councilman to an undistinguished short lived career as congressman to failed Senate candidate
It's a testament to our shallow You Tube culture that this man is even in the discussion as a potential commander in chief.
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Wholeheartedly agree.
2
As can be sussed by the comments we can see that most Americans really don't want a true honest president, they want a fairy tale, an actor, a myth. Reality really eludes many of us who need to think simplistically.
5
Sorry, but besides being born privileged and graduating from an ivy league school, what real life experience does O'Rourke have that does not involve spending other people's (tax) money?
5
I wonder how the narrative around this soul searching would shift if Beto were a woman or POC. It seems that much of the fanfare is steeped in assumed white male privilege.
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So many politicians say, “the American people want this, and the American people don’t think that” when what they’re actually saying is what they want and think. Well, here is a guy out there finding out what real Americans actually want, and think, and need, and feel. If you don’t find that refreshing, you’re missing something. And you’re missing something else if you think Beto is wondering around aimlessly trying to find himself. This is a man who knows exactly who he is. He’s not trying to find himself, he’s expanding himself. And that’s another thing I find refreshing.
8
I found these two NYT pieces on O'Rourke to be deeply moving. Unlike the critics who think he is a man-child lost in the clouds, I see a genuinely complex and deeply thoughtful man. In this horrid vortex of narcissism we are in, it is exactly what is needed for this democracy and country to be healed.
I see his 'going to ground' as rather astute. The presidency should be a true calling; therefore a period of genuine soul searching is necessary and wise.
I hope he runs.
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I can tell that Beto comes from a level of privilege (like almost everyone that aspires to make it in DC politics) much greater than mine. He reminds me of many of the people I knew while attending UCSD in the 1980s, children of privilege who pretended to live the life of Romantic progressive artists by being in bands for a few years, spending even more years "finding themselves" after graduation (all with the endless support of white collar mom and dad), and then finally entering some career that their parents pre-programmed into them from childhood. (No real risk or chance of ever falling into poverty, just narcissistic playtime into one's 20s, 30s, and even 40s.) I am not doubting Beto's sincerity, and he does seem like a completely decent empathic person, but if he ever wins political office, I do not think he will behave much differently from the other brats that inhabit that weird biosphere.
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@Chaparral Lover you have this guy pegged.
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@Chaparral Lover
We do not have to guess. Beto was a three-term member of Congress from El Paso. During that time, he held over 100 town hall meetings with his constituents, including regular meetings with veterans in his district, and did what he could (as a member of the minority party) to advance their interests in DC. People in his district voted for him overwhelmingly for Senate.
1
The idea that there is anyone in the world who is not "lost" in one way or another is silly. There are two types of people, though: those who will openly face the obstacles that life throws them, and those who will deny their existence.
Beto is the former, and I for one am ready for a president who is as open and courageous about being "lost" as he is about his ideas for the future of our nation. Someone who will commit to writing an earnest, first-person travel diary like this has earned my confidence in his honesty, integrity, and courage.
No one of us has "arrived." We are all finding ourselves until the day we die. I would be happy to have a role model in the White House who acknowledges this shared human journey and helps us all get through it easier.
I'll vote for Beto if he runs!
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.” M. Twain
It is grand as a personal journey but despite my liberal and democratic views, I find this trip, writings etc of Mr O’Rourke somewhat immature, trying too hard... for the lack of a better term, half-cooked idealism.
I think his heart is in the right place, more maturity and realism would lead to that much needed wisdom and gravitas... that one desperately needs when true power comes to one hands, when one can truly yield it.
Wish him luck.
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And let’s thank the wife with young kids at home who is letting him explore like this. Love the guy, but we must not forget about his partner behind the profile.
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@A Exactly. Astounding, actually, that this travel log doesn’t mention his family at all. Why wouldn’t he be finding himself with them? The myth of the road and its illusion of escape is a male fantasy. I’m disappointed that he can’t find the extraordinary in the ordinary. I would have thought that parenting might have taught him how to do that. Shouldn’t his family be the bedrock of who he is? How can he possibly claim to advocate for ordinary people if he can’t hold up the most basic responsibility as a father?
3
How refreshing, a politician in search of answers unafraid to be human -- and caring.
30
Run Beto, run!
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Thanks to the Times for running this. It’s refreshing, as are Beto and the next generation of politicians. Beto seems like a genuinely nice person, but I would be more positive if the younger generation would work with the older generation of politicians and learn from them how to actually get things done. I’ve seen Joe Biden with a group of professionals while working on the cancer “moonshot” and he is astute, asks the right questions, knows what he wanted to learn when he was talking to cancer researchers. I’d like to see the older generation of Democratic politicians mentor the younger ones. Beto, please go and work with a senior Democrat and keep doing your road trips. Think about running in 2024.
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Excellent information....
Beto please find yourself before you expect to find this country.Lost is lost until it is found.
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@Frank herstek
Frank, I like your comment and I think Beto is, in a sense, trying to do what you suggest.
Any sense of being unmoored is troubling, but it doesn’t appear Beto lacks fundamental mooring at this stage in his life, rather he is facing a momentous decision and is taking time to consider it.
I think Beto is by nature a political person, and he has channeled that fundamental part of himself into public service. I don’t think he lacks any essential sense of himself.
What is challenging for him is the question of whether to pursue the office of President of the United States: I believe he is facing this decision with the focus it deserves. Put yourself in his shoes – he could actually win the thing. Wouldn’t any rational person give that decision a good, long mulling over?
5
He doesn't like to read, does he? I mean, the guy has no time, he is busy doing silly things, & wasting even more time writing about them.
I am sorry, but I am kind of underwhelmed. :)
14
@Daniel Solomon you are on to him. He also does not like to hang around his family. His wife's dad is a real estate billionaire... it explains their "relationship". Run Beto run!
I find him filled with curiosity, interested in communities and the people within, and often questioning himself and others, thoughtful. He wants to know, to find out, to explore. All good, I think! I would like him to be a senator so that there are more dems in that branch of the govt.
13
Seems a very level headed and intelligent man although not completely focused yet. Will probably make a fine President in a few years time.
11
Reads like that other "On the Road" individual, Jack Kerouac.
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@cherrylog754 yes he is a Kerouac copy cat. Like Americans hanging out in Paris TODAY, thinking they are artists. NOT.
1
I was traveling internationally during the run up to the midterms. Completely out of the media loop, I was mystified by the Beto hype. Now I understand. He’s a new generation and REAL. Unlike the ridiculous narcissism of the boomer generation, THIS is a guy I can relate to. It’s not the job of the president to know all the answers, but to be intelligent humble enough to find / hire the people that do. Give this man some time and he’s going far............
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No, no and no. We don't need another man-child in the white house. Perhaps a bit older than the one now, but I don't think this "transparency" is useful. Okay to ponder and do some grass-roots investigation but the stakes are too high to randomly expose inner thoughts. If we want youth, I'd prefer Pete Buttigieg. If O'Rourke thinks he has a vision and can add to the debate about America's future, than join the race. But this existential searching seems more about him than about the people he'd represent.
12
The video of himself he apparently posted getting his teeth cleaned was stupid and disgusting. That alone makes me question his competency for President.
8
@Rick that was a strange case of fake news, Beto actually streamed him interviewing the dentist on Instagram, which deletes live events after 24 hours which added to the fake news confusion
1
This guy, though bright and charming, isn’t remotely ready to be President.
14
In the Matrix, Neo went to see the Oracle to determine if he was The One.
Just this week, Beto went to see Oprah.
I suspect he will find that like Neo, he too is the One; he just needs to realize it to achieve it.
7
I really hope he runs. Matt Flegenheimer points out that Beto has a tendency to point out problems without voicing a concrete solution and that could be problematic for him politically, but I see it differently. I think by voicing problems he is making people feel heard (and I think so many people do not feel heard still, which is in my opinion a big reason America is such a political mess), and he is also probably trying to clarify these problems to himself. I appreciate so much that he doesn't have automatic responses for every issue someone throws at him, and I truly think he would work hard to find real solutions in the long run. Beto 2020!
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