Ponderous man Beto O’Rourke seems to have some regrets over how he announced his candidacy for president. Having taken a few months to reflect, he now feels that posing assuredly on a Vanity Fair cover alongside his strangely morose-looking dog and the words “I’m just born to be in it” may have been the wrong move. On Tuesday, he told the hosts of the View that the cover was a mistake, as it “reinforces that perception of privilege.”
O’Rourke also touched on the infamous “born to be in it” quote, acknowledging that he had misspoken. “I was attempting to say that I felt my calling was in public service,” he said. “No one is born to be president of the United States, least of all me.”
O’Rourke also discussed the backlash he faced after he tried out a running joke on the campaign trail, where he’d say that he “sometimes helps raise his kids.” Some found the comment to be insensitive, and observed that a mother of young children would be heavily criticized for making the same type of remarks.
Beto said he called his wife Amy after seeing some of this criticism, and that she (patiently, one imagines) explained to him that his comments came across as glib, that they minimized the work she did in caring for their children “and, frankly, what a lot of other women in the country are doing.”
“So listen,” O’Rourke told the women of the View, “I have a lot to learn and still am. I’m learning from the best.”
