Former Obama aide: O’Rourke inspired more enthusiasm than Obama in 2004

Former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer in a Monday op-ed laid out his argument in favor of a possible Beto O’Rourke 2020 presidential run, saying O’Rourke’s Senate campaign inspired more enthusiasm than former President Obama’s 2004 bid for the upper chamber. 

Pfeiffer, co-host of the podcast Pod Save America, wrote in a Crooked Media article that he has “never seen a Senate candidate — including Obama in 2004 — inspire the sort of enthusiasm that Beto did in his race.” 

{mosads}”If Beto were to go to Iowa City next week, I am confident he would draw a crowd three times larger than any candidate has since Obama first stumped there,” he continued. 

Pfeiffer wrote that he believes O’Rourke would be one of the “strongest candidates” in what is expected to be a crowded Democratic primary field. 

O’Rourke, a three-term congressman from Texas, lost his campaign against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by 3 points earlier this month. The race was surprisingly heated and tight for deep-red Texas. O’Rourke has said he has not made any decisions yet about running for president, but the pressure is ramping up as Democrats continue to say publicly they would like to see him run. 

The Texas Democrat’s campaign mobilized and excited voters across the country as millions tuned in to his social media-savvy campaign built on a progressive platform. O’Rourke ultimately raised more than $70 million, boasting an eye-popping $38 million haul in the third quarter.  

Pfeiffer, who remains one of the most visible former Obama aides in part due to his podcast, in his op-ed listed some of the arguments being made against O’Rourke: ” ‘He hasn’t paid his dues,’ ‘He is a creation of the media,’ ‘It’s not his time.’ ” 

“The whole conversation around Beto has been eerily familiar to me, because these are the exact arguments people made to me when I told them I was considering working for Barack Obama 10 years ago,” Pfeiffer, who served as Obama’s communications director, wrote in the piece. 

Pfeiffer concluded that, although he is unsure he would vote for O’Rourke, he believes his moment for political stardom “may be upon us.” 

“Washington was wrong about Obama and there are many reasons to believe it’s wrong about Beto,” he wrote.