At this hour, former San Antonio Mayor and HUD Secretary Julian Castro is announcing his intention to seek the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 2020.
Castro formed an exploratory committee last month and was on the VP shortlist for Hillary Clinton in 2016. However, supporters of Bernie Sanders might have kept him out of the running. Castro describes himself as "a centrist" and that is dirty word for many progressives.
Under the circumstances, I see Castro as the dark horse in this race. Given his Latin American heritage he could oppose President Trump's immigration policies in a way no one else can and perhaps steal some thunder from fellow Texan Beto O'Rourke.
As for foreign policy, Castro is pretty much an open palate. He did defend President Obama's approach to Israel in a 2013 interview with Hadassah Magazine, but he was part of Obama's cabinet at the time and his answers were fairly boilerplate. It will be interesting to see what position he takes on BDS, if any at all.
While the odds are against him at the moment, I am open to hearing more from him. If nothing else, he doesn't seem to be a crackpot like Tulsi Gabbard.
Assuming Castro doesn't beat the odds, he will likely be on the Democrats' VP shortlist yet again.
On a personal note, Castro and I share the same birthday. Hopefully this isn't all we have in common.
No comments:
Post a Comment