Interesting article, but not entirely fair.
Cruz seems to be good at communicating his thoughts and principles, something that a whole lot on the right are not good at. Sure, digging into archaic policies and bills from the past won’t win many outsiders over, but I think it’s unfair for the author to criticize Cruz when it seems obvious he knew who his audience was and that’s who he was speaking to. Secondly, the “then what” of the shutdown was to get people to sit up and take notice of what was happening/about to happen. I think he was immensely successful there. Forcing a cloture vote on this latest spending bill? Great move. Now senators are on the record and can’t hide behind procedure.
I’m not sure what the author is wanting Cruz to do. Come out with a 10-point plan? A new Contract With America? That may not be his best use. He’s good at shining a light in the dark spots. Not everyone is meant to be the visionary of the future.
There are lots of plans out there like Rand Paul’s plan for failing cities to bail themselves out. The fact that I see Ted Cruz promoting those plans in social media tells me that he’s paying attention and thinking.
What this writer is trying to do is what the left does with Clarence Thomas. They accuse him of being stupid because he doesn’t speak much during court arguments.