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The problem is that before June 27, almost no one outside the 14th district of New York knew who she was. And that, the following month, very few people who embraced her fully really plunged into what she believed.
Which leads to moments like this, occurred during an interview with Margaret Hoover for PBS. & # 39; & # 39; Firing Line & # 39; in which Ocasio-Cortez gets into trouble when she starts talking about the Middle East and alludes to Israelis who settled in the West Bank as the occupiers of Palestine. Hoover follows up, intelligently, and Ocasio-Cortez begins to talk about an increase in settlements that makes it more difficult for Palestinians to access "their homes." Feeling that she is only making matters worse, Ocasio-Cortez admits, "I'm not the geopolitical expert on this issue."
This is not to take on Ocasio-Cortez. She is far from the only politician to delve into the depths of complexity in the Middle East. And, to her credit, at least she admitted that she did not know exactly what she was talking about; some politicians would just keep talking and talking in the hope of drowning their lack of knowledge in a sea of words.
The reason why this embarrbading incident with Ocasio-Cortez deserves to be emphasized, is because it conjures up the danger to the next big democrats that comes next. Ocasio-Cortez could well be a future leader of the party and, at the present time, represents the beating heart of his liberal wing and activist. But she is not the perfect politician. She's not the one who has the magic formula to overthrow Trump's presidency or to win the ongoing fight over the party's future direction in 2020 and beyond.
This tendency to confuse the new thing with the best thing is always stronger in the party of power at any time in Washington. Democrats are out of the White House and in the minority in the House and Senate. They are desperately seeking a savior – and Ocasio-Cortez, for some, fits this bill.
The whole process reminds me of the NBA project. Each team is convinced that she has identified someone who will transform the franchise. They fall in love with a prospect. They turn the child into whatever they want – even if they do not have the information to draw those conclusions or possess data that suggests that the prospect does not make sense. is not all that they crave to be. But they are so excited to find a new face, they ignore anything that disrupts their Next Big Thing story. Sometimes the perspective works. Most often, no.
What these two processes have in common is that they avoid this fundamental fact of human nature: we are all imperfect . And this fundamental fact of politics: It's a lot harder than it looks.
Ocasio-Cortez had never run for anything before. She actually won a congressional seat by getting less than 16,000 votes – which does not mean that she did not take into account the efforts she's made at any one time. election with low turnout. Shoot a long-term 10-year holder, rightly, has attracted the attention of the national party. But Ocasio-Cortez is just beginning. She is becoming who she will be as a politician; Even she recognizes that she is not an expert on all subjects.
For Ocasio-Cortez and his followers, Hastings' comments will affirm their belief that the old guard is shaken by its victory – and that it is a very good thing. May be! But the setback – of his struggle with Crowley and his struggles to formulate a coherent Middle East policy – reminds us that putting too much on too soon is not only bad for Ocasio-Cortez but also for the party.
There are elements of the Ocasio-Cortez campaign – and she as a candidate – which the Democrats absolutely need to learn: basic populism being the main one. But the embrace of his party embraces everything related to Ocasio-Cortez, it's too much, too early for everyone, as revealed his interview last week.
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