Could Politico have already reached peak Beto and is now on the downward slope from the zenith?
Despite their own senior media Jack Shafer back in October begging "Stop the Press Before It Profiles Beto O’Rourke Again," the paeans to failed senate candidate Beto O'Rourke have continued unabated at Politico. However, that might have changed on Saturday when Politico writer David Siders expressed how irked he was with their beloved Beto appearing to be playing games as to whether he would announce his candidacy for president that he wrote that he "is now manufacturing suspense."
Even the title of Siders' article expresses Politico's new frustration with Beto, "'It's a bit much': Beto drags out his 2020 tease at South by Southwest." That new attitude towards Beto extends to the subtitle, "The Texas Democrat confirmed more than a week ago that he'd made his decision on a potential run for president. He just won’t say what it is."
AUSTIN, Texas — Beto O’Rourke took his 2020 campaign tease to South by Southwest on Saturday — and even by this city’s eccentric standards, the act was getting weird.
With a thick crowd waiting in front of Austin’s Paramount Theatre, O’Rourke slipped into the premiere of his own documentary through an alley in the back. He waited for the lights to dim before joining the audience. And 10 days after saying that he and his wife, Amy, had decided “how we can best serve our country,” he once again refused to discuss his 2020 plans.
“I want to make sure I do it the right way and I tell everyone at the same time, so I’ll be doing that,” he told reporters when asked by POLITICO about the delay. “I’ve got to be on the timeline that works for my family and for the country.”
So his "act was getting weird." Yeah, that definitely does sound like a Politico change in tone towards Beto.
What is unusual is not that O’Rourke hasn’t yet said whether he is running — former Vice President Joe Biden hasn’t, either. It’s that O’Rourke, unlike any other potential presidential candidate, confirmed more than a week ago that he has made his decision. He just won’t say what it is.
Instead, the politician who built his entire persona on a thread of authenticity — crisscrossing Texas while eschewing pollsters and political consultants in his Senate run last year — is now manufacturing suspense.
Ouch.
“It’s a bit much,” said one Democratic strategist who has spoken with O’Rourke about working on the 2020 campaign. “The question is: Does he have a secret sauce that no one knows about — that no reporter, no operative, no strategist understands? Or is this just ‘The Beto Show’? And if this is just ‘The Beto Show,’ there’s a breaking point between strategy and narcissism.”
He continued:
Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist based in New York, called O’Rourke’s demurrals “good media theater.” But, he said, “It’s lousy politics. … Your supporters are going to dissipate.”
Could this be the official start of Beto disillusionment at Politico?
