Just a few days ago, I wrote about 2020 presidential candidate/Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D-WA) absurd contrition over the fact that he’s a straight white male at a time when a new poll shows less than 40% of Iowa Democrats want a straight white male candidate as their presidential nominee.

To recap, when he was questioned about it by CNN‘s Jake Tapper over the weekend, here’s what Inslee said:

I think that I have evinced humility about being a straight white male that I have never experienced discrimination like so many do.

Fast forward to just a few days later, and on the same day failed Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke made his presidential candidacy official, Vanity Fair published a glowing puff piece about him that featured a bunch of “say what?” quotes. Among them:

O’Rourke is acutely aware, too, of perhaps his biggest vulnerability—being a white man in a Democratic Party yearning for a woman or a person of color, a Kamala Harris or a Cory Booker. “The government at all levels is overly represented by white men,” he says. “That’s part of the problem, and I’m a white man. So if I were to run, I think it’s just so important that those who would comprise my team looked like this country. If I were to run, if I were to win, that my administration looks like this country. It’s the only way I know to meet that challenge.

“But I totally understand people who will make a decision based on the fact that almost every single one of our presidents has been a white man, and they want something different for this country. And I think that’s a very legitimate basis upon which to make a decision. Especially in the fact that there are some really great candidates out there right now.”

All of a sudden disqualifying a candidate based on their race and sex is cool again. Who knew? And does any of this apply to Beto anyway, considering his politically convenient appropriations of Hispanic culture?

Look, this type of pseudo-humility is like catnip to identity-politics-obsessed Democrats, but for most of the rest of us, it shows an unhealthy focus on a non-issue that shouldn’t be a priority.

The priority should always be to choose people who have the qualities you are looking for, regardless of race/sex/sexuality. For example, I wouldn’t vote for a female candidate for office on the basis that she was a woman. I’d rather have a male pro-lifer representing me that a pro-abortion woman.

What was it Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said about the need to judge by the content of someone’s character over the color of one’s skin again?

Democrats have moved so far away from that philosophy that it’s not even funny anymore. But when it comes to Beto, at least, he’s either consciously or subconsciously throwing some people back to a time when being a straight white male in a leadership position wasn’t considered such a bad thing:

When a look works, it works. pic.twitter.com/kQ8LczRNar

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 13, 2019

Political analysts are going to hilariously try to paint him as the next Reagan or Obama. My money is on the Obama comparison, because it fits.

Flashback: O’Rourke tells 60 Minutes he has “completely ruled out” running for president – one year ago today.

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—Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–