OPINION:
Robert Francis O’Rourke — better known as Beto, his stage name for the political theater — announced he was running for president because, in his words, he was just “born” to run — “just born to be in it,” simply “born” and bred for the highest office of the world.
Hubris? Well, put it this way: Guess who else was an heir apparent to the White House? Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Hey Democrats, how’d that work out for you?
“Madam President” is how Newsweek termed it, on a November 2016 cover that fell kind of flat when the votes were tallied and hey now, ho now, guess what now — Donald Trump won, Hillary Clinton didn’t.
Heir apparency would seem a dangerous business.
But not to Beto — not to Beto and his bare feet, on full sprawling display during a fawn-fest of a photo-shoot-slash-interview with “Vanity Fair” personnel, from his El Paso, Texas, home. Who goes bare-footed for an interview about a potential run for the presidency with a national magazine? Answer: A theater major. A staged player. A person who’s trying to craftily create an image of being down with the little people, being one of the guys, being a dude who cares nothing for image.
As if he’s above the petty wearing of shoes — too busy and distracted to put on shoes — for the likes of “Vanity Fair,” and the photograph-viewing American public.
Shoes are for peons. Socks are so passe.
“Settling into an armchair in his living room,” Vanity Fair wrote, “[Beto] tries to make sense of his rise. ’I honestly don’t know how much of it was me,’ he says. ’But there is something abnormal, super-normal, or I don’t know what the hell to call it, that [my wife and I] both experience when we’re out on the campaign trail.’”
That was after the magazine reports him yelling “motherf—s” in front of his kids while driving them home from school.
Interesting. Remember all the jabs at Trump about his demeanor — that he didn’t have the proper demeanor to run for president, that he wasn’t possessed of the proper demeanor to sit in the White House, that his demeanor just wasn’t proper enough to represent America on a global scale?
Well now. At least he wore shoes for his interviews.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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