Here’s your primer on the rising star, San Antonio Mayor, and DNC keynoter Julian Castro. I’ll let you take it in in all its hagiographic glory, but I’d like to highlight my favorite part, where the authors manage to find someone who Does Not Like Him Very Much and Thinks He Really Isn’t All That:
Mayor Julian Castro
But as Castro’s national stature grows, so does his pool of critics.
“His record of accomplishment is somewhat light,” said Matt Mackowiak, an Austin-based GOP political consultant.
Mackowiak, who worked for Hutchison, said Castro’s speaking role is primarily about identity politics.
“It’s more about Latinos than it is about Castro,” he said. “It will be the largest thing he has ever done, and it could be the biggest thing he will ever do.”
Castro also runs the risk, Mackowiak said, of giving a red-meat speech to the Democratic base that could alienate moderate Texas voters in a future gubernatorial run – not that Castro has said he’d seek the seat.
The consultant accuses Castro of being an Obama surrogate rather than someone who focuses on some of San Antonio’s pressing issues.
“He seems to be someone who is extraordinarily focused on politics and ambition and not problem-solving,” said Mackowiak.
Castro shrugs off the accusation.
“I’ve spent about 95 percent of my time during these last couple of months on the city budget and Pre-K 4 SA,” he said. “That’s just boilerplate junk from a political party.”
Castro’s calendar supports his statement.
Several months’ worth of entries show he’s focused on city business. It’s business as usual: His days are typically packed with meetings – both private and public. He’s also spent – and is scheduled to continue spending – a lot of time meeting with community leaders about the Pre-K 4 SA initiative, on which he’s staked his mayoral tenure.
Yes, hard as it may be to believe, a professional Republican isn’t terribly impressed with Mayor Julian Castro, and he’s willing to say things that perhaps aren’t exactly aligned with the facts to show his lack of impression. I know, I never would have expected that, either. I’d have thought that a member or two of San Antonio’s City Council, or a disgruntled local activist, or maybe a legislator or Bexar County official or some other elected type who has to do business with the city of San Antonio would be a better source for the “but some people are critics” bit of the story. Maybe such people are in short supply, I don’t know. Anyway, concern trolling aside, it’s a good read, so check it out.