Beto O'Rourke may look the part, but he's no true progressive – Democrats can do better

Of all the outcomes I dared hope for at the recent US midterm elections, watching Ted Cruz get trounced on his home turf seemed like the most satisfying prospect.

And for a short period of time, all the sectarianism of the Democrats and the American left seemed to evaporate as Clintonites, Bernie bros and centrists united and watched with bated breath as relative unknown Beto O’Rourke had the Republican incumbent running scared of losing his Senate seat.

It wasn’t to be, but the fact that the photogenic and social media savvy congressman came so close to doing so in Texas, a notoriously red state that hasn’t seen such a good showing for a Democrat in 20 years, understandably set his star skyrocketing.

There were the crowded rallies, the big money raised from small donors, the celebrity endorsements and the electrifying speeches. It all felt very… familiar.

The comparisons to Obama are obvious and inevitable and at a time when nostalgia for the former president seems to be reaching fever pitch, this has only added to O’Rourke’s appeal. Indeed, a new poll this week confirmed his popularity, showing him to be the top choice among Democrats for presidential candidate in 2020. But this would be a mistake.

The fact that establishment Democrats can take a look at the current political landscape and decide what Americans are crying out for is “Obama, the sequel” makes me worry they haven’t learned a single lesson since 2016.

I have no truck with the “Bernie would have won” brigade. It’s an unprovable and unhelpful theory and pontificating on it wastes time, and I have even less tolerance for those who suggest a Trump presidency was a necessary evil to ignite a real progressive force in US politics. The Trump presidency is not a political experiment, it’s a very real nightmare that is destroying people’s lives and the Democrats cannot afford to mess 2020 up. Picking the “right” candidate is paramount.

But what does that actually mean? Is the right candidate simply someone who can beat Donald Trump by virtue of not being him? Genuine progressives would presumably want to gain power to enact change, not just gain power for the sake of it.

And in this regard, O’Rourke comes up short. For all his gloss and engaging rhetoric he simply doesn’t seem to stand for much. While the democratic base is talking with increasing confidence and urgency about single payer healthcare and free college education, when it came down to it O’Rourke didn’t back either bill. He seems positively Clintonite when it comes to Wall Street regulation and has voted consistently pro-police to the point of supporting making police officers a protected class.

Furthermore, a U-turn on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza (as a rookie O’Rourke was one of just a handful of Democrats to vote against funding the “iron dome missile defence system” in 2014) suggests that when he does take a stand on something he lacks the stomach to fight for his convictions.

Such criticism may sound like pedantic purism and I empathise with and understand the urge to get swept up in Beto-mania. By very nature of American politics, the protracted search for a presidential candidate leaves a frustrating power vacuum when the opposition needs leadership to get on the offensive.

Never has that felt truer as we watch Donald Trump stagger from one controversy to another, bashing out typo-laden tantrums on Twitter. It is tempting to throw your eggs in the first basket that seems like a viable candidate.

But Democrats should hold their nerve. The ascendance of true progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows both that these candidates exist and, crucially, that there is a huge appetite for them among Americans.

Beto O’Rouke is progressive for Texas, but he’s not what the party should be projecting for 2020.

Even if he did manage to beat Donald Trump, which is indeed feasible, an O’Rourke presidency isn’t going to magically reset everything back to the Obama years as if the Trump interim was just a bad dream. Nothing can.

The Democrats need to take off the rose tinted glasses, stop clinging to the centre and look forward like true progressives. Aesthetically pleasing moderates aren’t the antidote to right wing or left wing populism. Just ask France. This time, let’s say: “Yes we can... do better.