U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) (Photo : Reuters)
Ted Cruz, Republican U.S. Senator from Texas, on Monday became the first 2016 candidate to declare a White House bid. Cruz has become famous for disobeying orders and annoying people, but has used savvy and ambition to seize political opportunities.
When Cruz was a junior aide for the president campaign of George W. Bush, he had received a ticket to watch the critical Bush v. Gore oral arguments in the Supreme Court. After his superiors asked Cruz to surrender his ticket, he refused at first.
Cruz handed over the ticket after an upset senior staff member phoned him. However, the incident has become a legend in the political world.
Cruz has promised the American public a presidential campaign that will focus on awakening the "promise of America." At Liberty University, a Virginia Christian college founded by televangelist Jerry Falwell, Cruz said that the power of Americans to fight for liberty "knows no bounds."
Longtime acquaintances of Cruz say that he has always been savvy and eager in gaining personally from politically helpful moments. However, they are also surprised that he has shifted from being an Ivy League Republican to a Tea Party agitator who basically shut down the U.S. government in 2013.
Political experts believe that Cruz perceives himself as the most conservative Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential race. David M. Carney, a Republican strategist said that Cruz exploits opportunities he has and "focuses" on them, according to The New York Times.
Cruz has sponsored or co-sponsored a total of 112 pieces of legislation as a lawmaker, with only one of them becoming law. Instead, Cruz has focused on changing or reversing the White House's policies that he opposes.
Ironically, many political pundits have compared Cruz's rhetoric as being like President Obama's rhetoric, which argues that personality and eloquence will bring about change. For example, during his speech at Liberty University Cruz used the word "imagine" 38 times, according to The Week.
