Beto Skateboards Whataburger

2019

Date: 14 March 2019 · Place: Whataburger parking lot, Bowling Green, Kentucky · presidential announcement tour · Figures: Beto O'Rourke, former Congressman (Texas) and Democratic presidential candidate · Tags: Democratic Primary, Cringe, Skateboard 01. The Launch On 14 March 2019 Beto O'Rourke announces his presidential campaign. The same day, a Vanity Fair cover story by Joe Hagan publishes with photography by Annie Leibovitz. A separate clip surfaces from days earlier of O'Rourke skateboarding through a Whataburger parking lot in Kentucky. He is 46 years old. The video runs on local news in El Paso. He kickflips, badly. He calls Whataburger 'the best place in America.' 02. Born Alongside The Internet The Vanity Fair piece quotes O'Rourke saying 'I'm just born to be in it.' The skateboard clip and the quote combine into a single image: white male overpromise, no policy attached. Twitter calls him a Vampire Weekend song. The campaign never recovers the magazine-cover momentum. He drops out on 1 November 2019, before the Iowa caucus. The skateboard clip outlives the candidacy by years, recirculated whenever any politician attempts youth-coded performance. Sources • Joe Hagan, 'Beto O'Rourke: Man on wire,' Vanity Fair, April 2019 issue (online 14 March 2019) • Christopher Mele, 'Beto O'Rourke, on tour, skateboards through Whataburger lot,' New York Times, 16 March 2019 • Know Your Meme, 'Beto Skateboarding'