Analyzing Beto O'Rourke's blogpost: is he running for president, or just running?

The Texas Democrat published a stream of consciousness Medium post about – what else? – the act of running. Here’s what he said, and what we think he meant

As if the punk band, skateboard and photos of him in a sundress weren’t evidence enough, Beto O’Rourke has solidified his role as the most Gen-X dude alive by dusting off another signifier of the Y2K era: a meandering, hastily proofread blogpost about his feelings.

As many have pointed out online, the post about running – possibly a thinly veiled allegory about what’s to come for the exciting Democratic candidate who recently over-performed in his race for a Senate seat against Republican Ted Cruz – reads like the stream of consciousness work of a modernist author.

Only it’s, you know, not exactly a towering literary achievement. O’Rourke does have a very creative way of spelling “Massachusettes”, which may be a bit of poetic license.

Typically, if this were any other bro in a creative writing class, we wouldn’t bother spending much time parsing the text’s meaning. But considering it’s the work of a man a lot of people think might have a chance to be president someday, we’ll indulge him this time.

Here’s what he said, and what we think he meant.

‘Came back up and put my tights, shorts, long socks, tshirt and overshirt on. Hat and gloves, my running shoes and was outside by 7:45’

As the blogpost opens, we find O’Rourke going about his morning routine, outfitting himself in warm clothing, like a warrior donning his armor, to withstand the harsh reception he is sure to face. From the elements, yes, but also from the political climate. What is he preparing for? A run.

‘Once on the Mall it was better, the snow hitting me from the right side (blowing almost due south). There were in some places no tracks, mine were the first footprints down in the new snow. At other points I’d see someone walking in front of me, once another runner (‘only the crazies come out today!’ he said)’

Here O’Rourke references the direction from which he is being attacked. From the right side, which is clear enough, and blowing due south, there being few places in the country further south than his home state of Texas. He will come in for a lot more of that in the years to come if he is intending to run for president.

His being the first footprints in fresh snow is too sophisticated a metaphor for me to unpack here, sorry.

As for “the crazies” line, is this man giving voice to the idea that you’d have to be a glutton for punishment to run against Trump?

‘I thought about turning around once I got to the Washington monument…. I passed someone running the other direction shielding his face with his hand from the snow’

O’Rourke mentions faces and snow eight and nine times, respectively, throughout, which is clearly a tacit admission he has a cocaine problem. JUST KIDDING. But there does seem to be hidden meaning in the way he describes various figures handling the cold on the most vulnerable part of the body.

As he runs toward the Washington Monument – the most iconic symbol of George Washington, the man synonymous with American leadership – he thinks about turning around. Before long he comes across a man who has decided to do just that, shielding his face, as if in weakness, a sign of giving up. The man he sees is the version of himself, having decided he isn’t up to the task.

To paraphrase Joyce: “On a snowy winter morning, he is young Beto, a mirror within a mirror, he beholdeth himself, the young figure of then is seen, precious manly, walking on a nipping morning.”

‘I saw him stretch out his arms as he ran as though to embrace the snow, the pool, the morning, the Lincoln memorial that we could now see in front of us, life, and all the mystery of being alive’

Here he sees a third man, not the one turning away, not the one who’s ducked, momentarily as he has, behind the cover of the trees, but one embracing it all, without compunction or caution.

Soon he ascends the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a monument dedicated to the man widely considered our greatest president. He reads his words, and describes their effect on his physical body. If the cold is a symbol of the negative throughout, of fear, Lincoln’s words are the opposite: they bring literal warmth to his blood.

‘It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged’

Quoting Lincoln here, this could mean a lot of things but let’s just go with saying it’s a dig at Cruz, the big religious windbag.

‘The sleet stinging my face, I wondered if the winds had changed too’

If the results of the midterm elections have shown us anything, it’s that the suffering of the Trump era isn’t quite as inevitable as it may have seemed. The winds have changed. As any runner will tell you, running with the wind makes you go a lot faster.