Politics

Beto O’Rourke Crowdsources His Policy Writing, Asks Supporters To Tell Him What To Think

REUTERS/Mike Segar

Phillip Stucky Contributor
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Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke is essentially asking supporters to build his policy platform with him, according to a Monday report from The Washington Post.

WaPo reporter Jenna Johnson wrote that O’Rourke would constantly ask supporters for their ideas and suggestions on questions they asked him about specific policy proposals. But when supporters didn’t offer their own ideas on what they would like to see, O’Rourke would then call for a “national conversation” on the issue to decide what stance he would take on the matter.

The Democrat reportedly asked multiple voters to “shape him” into the candidate they wanted him to be. O’Rourke has no campaign manager, and only a small staff as he drives from event to event campaigning across the country. (RELATED: Beto Supporter Tried To Dodge Identity Politics Moments After Attacking GOP For ‘Old White Guys’)

Although he’s light on policy in his campaign events, his openness is reassuring to some voters.

“He’s just so positive — that’s what I like,” Olga Sanchez told The Washington Post.

Another supporter gushed, “He’s not saying ‘straight Democrat,’ he’s not saying ‘independent,’ he’s not saying ‘just progressive,’ and he’s not saying no to ‘Republican’ — that’s just it, he includes everyone … I’m all for inclusivity.”

Others take the lack of policy focus as a sign that O’Rourke is somehow unprepared for the race. He recently stunned both sides of the gun control debate by appearing to take both sides in a single sentence. O’Rourke offered that he wanted to take weapons of war off the streets, but then also said he would support those who already own AR-15’s and other such weapons in their effort to keep them.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was very critical of O’Rourke during his Monday show of “Morning Joe.” The Republican took umbrage with the fact that he doesn’t have a stated policy agenda or a push towards a single policy that is close to him.

“The thing is, he doesn’t have a message right now. It’s all goop,” Scarborough said.

Fellow co-host Mika Brezenski then started to roll up her sleeves and responded, “I got his message. It’s look, you wanna see it? I’ll roll up my sleeves and the camera zooms in, and I look really busy.”

O’Rourke recently hit the campaign trail across Michigan and Iowa, but the seemingly constant campaigning only resulted in a 1 percent bump in his polling against fellow Democrats, according to a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday.