To get to the White House: Tell us a story, Mr. Castro
SAN DIEGO -- Political consultants will say that running for president is about raising money, hiring staff, building organization, studying issues and lining up endorsements.
That's wrong.
Take it from a journalist: Running for president is about telling a story.
This is especially true at a time when Americans are standing in front of fire hydrants that spew information, and their attention spans are shorter than ever. You have to boil down everything you are, believe in and have ever done into a short and clear narrative that tells people who you are, what you stand for and why you want this crazy job.
Julian Castro has one heck of a good story to tell, and now the 44-year-old former San Antonio Mayor and U.S Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has a national soapbox from which to tell it.
Castro has announced that he is running for president in 2020. His first decision was brilliant -- choosing his twin brother, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, as his campaign chairman. Who better to shepherd you through this meat grinder than someone who has loved you since birth, knows you better than anyone and isn't afraid to tell you what you need to hear?
In what will be a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls vying for their party's nomination, Castro's first goal has to be to make it onto the short list.
And no -- as someone who has known the San Antonio native for 15 years, interviewed him dozens of times, and written thousands of words about him -- take it from me, he is not running for vice president or applying for another Cabinet post. He'll be perfectly content, and highly employable, in the private sector if this White House thing doesn't work out.
If it does work, and Castro finds himself on a national debate stage in March or April of next year, it will be because of one thing above all else: his story.
The most important part of my friend's story isn't family. It's geography.
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