Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) responsibly hit hard on the current attempt to blame Democratic underperformance on Progressives.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) defends Progressives
It did not take long. Barely 48 hours after the election, a centrist Democrats began the irresponsible and unnecessary attack with a message that included profanities against Progressives. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) was not kind, nor does she empathize sufficiently with the aggrieved.
“If we are classifying Tuesday as a success from a congressional standpoint, we will get [expletive] torn apart in 2022,” Abigail Spanberger said. “That’s ‘the reality.'”
No. Democrats will get blown out if they don’t create policies that measurably hurt poor and middle-class people. In other words, acquiescing to corporate wants before main street needs as we always do is what will ‘tear us apart’ in 2022.
“The number one concern in things that people brought to me in my district that I barely re-won, was defunding the police. And I’ve heard from colleagues who have said ‘Oh, it’s the language of the streets. We should respect that.’ We’re in Congress. We are professionals. We are supposed to talk about things in the way where we mean what we’re talking about. If we don’t mean we should defund the police, we shouldn’t say that.”
A Congressperson must explain the criminal justice in soundbites that touch their district and immediately pivot to point out how the opponent’s policies will materially and socio-economically affect the constituent. As AOC pointed out, no swing district Democrat who signed on to Medicare For All lost.
“We want to talk about funding social services, and ensuring good engagement in community policing,” Spanberger added. “Let’s talk about what we are for. And we need to not ever use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. Because while people think it doesn’t matter, it does matter. And we lost good members because of it.”
There is some truth to that, but Democrats continue to use GOP tropes in their own messaging. But as AOC pointed out, no swing-district Democrat who signed on to Medicare For All lost. Democrats should try tailoring the progressive message to their people’s needs because those tend to be the values and policies that support most of their constituents.
AOC had a lot to say. Most importantly, she made it clear that the Democratic Party is far behind using digital technology effectively. Imagine if Democrats did it like the Trump team. They got quite a bit of support for an inferior product that harms. Democrats won big anyway because of a very defective top-of-the-GOP-ticket.