Running with Beto

As someone living in Austin, I had every intention of watching this documentary. That was until the makers of this documentary held a dinner at the restaurant I was working at and were incredibly rude, belittling, and entitled. I have waited on high maintenance parties and groups on more than one occasion, but this was by far the most disrespectful group of people I have ever had the unpleasant experience of hosting. After being treated as an ignorant, unintelligent waitress for three hours by the production crew of this film, I can't bring myself to watch it.

Very surprised as I WAS a Beto fan before I saw this "behind=the=scenes" documentary. Somehow, I think, the director of this presentation was trying to tell O'Rourke somethings wrong. The disconnect he has with his children who are very, very young is glaring. The kids adore him and only once did we experience (with his very young daughter) a genuine hug and connection. I don't think he cares for his little boys at all. Ditto, same for his wife. So, this documentary is excellent as Beto drives himself all over Texas running against Ted Cruz for US Senate in 2018. The documentary highlights some of the committed volunteers and the energetic crowds. Political campaigns are quite raucous and this film captures this aspect quite well. I will still vote for Beto if he gets the nomination. But, anybody but Trump!

Watching how some smart people managed to fool many people that Beto is anything more than an empty suit full of platitudes was a little interesting, but the guy is so fake I couldn't understand why people were so enamored with him.

... and the diverse group who supported his initially Quixotic run for the Texas Senate seat held by Ted Cruz, thought unbeatable at the beginning of the campaign. It shows you more about his wife and children than you normally get to see about a politician, and what I saw I liked. Beto is certainly a magnetic personable guy, but one thing I took away from this documentary is he doesn't seem quite ready for prime time yet.

As three term Congressman from the El Paso area he was certainly ready to be one of a 100 senators, but now he is running for president, and if there is anything that the presidency of Barack Obama taught me is that prior executive experience is necessary for a president to hit the ground running. Obama had only a partial term as a senator when he became president, thus he lacked experience in the skill of negotiation with different factions. By the time he had that experience it was two years later and Congress was controlled by the GOP who had no interest in doing anything but blockading whatever Obama might want to do. But I digress. Back to Beto.

Beto tells you a little about what he wants - gun control and universal healthcare - and a little about what he does not like - migrant children separated from their parents at the border and Trump's wall. What he doesn't tell you in this documentary is how he hopes to pay for what he does want, and what alternative he has to what he does not like. He is essentially a great personality without detailed policies where Hillary Clinton was a great policy wonk without a great personality, at least that's what came across in public.

Overall I would recommend this work as a good introduction to the man and the excitement he drummed up in 2018 in The Lone Star State. I am impressed that he seems unsullied from his six years in the House. And any native Texan as myself is impressed with anybody who can rattle off the names of all 254 counties in the place I will forever call home no matter where I live.

After watching Beto's live-streams campaigning across the state of Texas for two years, it was uplifting to see the more vulnerable side of Beto and his family. His family's sacrifices to run for public office were huge. Beto is a transparent, authentic, funny, compassionate, and brilliant man and this film shows that. This film captures his strengths and vulnerabilities with unblinking honesty. Kudos to the filmmakers. Outstanding work.