SIP DON’T CHUG

Despite star potential, AOC already wearing thin.

One of the best ways to learn is to take the time to assess what came before us. A surefire way to prosper is to look at what transpired in the past, using it as a teachable opportunity to map the way forward, repeating what was successful and discarding what did not work.

History

When viewed objectively, with facts unaltered by mischievous hands, history is one of the great subjects and teachers, arguably the greatest. There are myriad categories of history including stalwarts such as World History and American History.

(Sports teams use history, too. For example, NBA teams review video history of the Golden State Warriors to remind themselves that, based on past-history, it’s not a good idea to leave Steph Curry unguarded behind the 3-point line.)

Alarmingly, at the university level, a disturbing trend has emerged as college undergraduates move away from the humanities, particularly history. Last fall, the American History Association published an article detailing a crisis-level 30-percent decline in history degrees awarded, from 2008 to 2017. Since 2011, there has been a 33-percent drop in history majors.

All of which is to wonder if history’s stature as a guidepost and reliable marker for what occurred before us is at risk. Will there be great presidential historians like Michael Beschloss 50 years from now?

Presently, as the 116th Congress settles in at the Capitol, we are witnessing a freshman representative, a smart, talented woman with enormous potential, demonstrate a lack of full understanding of the history of those who made it possible for her to be where she is today.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, already bestowed with the acronym moniker AOC, is challenging traditions at a pace resembling someone she politically doesn’t resemble at all – Donald Trump. And she has made ill-advised comments about senior members of her own party and their contributions, or lack thereof.

Ocasio-Cortez should log onto Youtube and watch, for example, (D) Rep. John Lewis, as a young man, marching across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama, knowing on the far side of the bridge KKK members and rogue cops were waiting to bash his head in, which is exactly what they did.

John Lewis, battered and bloodied that day in 1965, was an unyielding presence on the front lines, along with men and women of all ethnicities, protesting for civil rights. And they forced progressive changes that opened doors so AOC can sit where she sits today. Many of those protestors are now elderly.

As Whoopi Goldberg eloquently said while discussing Ocasio-Cortez on The View the other day, “sit still for a minute and learn the job.”

Pull in the reins

AOC, living up to the stereotype of brash New Yorker (another thing she apparently has in common with Trump), has dissed the elderly, disrespected congressional representatives and dumbfoundingly participated in a protest sit-in at the office doorstep of her party’s House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. AOC seems intent on saying or tweeting something daily to bask in the spotlight.

Her need to respond whenever an adversary mentions her is undercutting the goodwill Ocasio-Cortez arrived with and may stunt her future potential. It’s never a good sign when the people you need help from, to move your progressive agenda forward, glance warily at you and talk behind your back.

Yes, she is determined and smart with fresh ideas, but Ocasio-Cortez is behaving as if Prohibition just ended and her intention is to drink all the beer out of every keg in town. AOC needs to ease up a bit and sip, don’t chug.

Comments such as “we as a party have compromised too much,” which she made to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes and “we’ve lost too much of who we’re supposed to be and who we are” reflect poorly on Ocasio-Cortez. Plus, this gem, “we know so much of what we’ve tried in the past hasn’t worked, either.”

AOC has gone so far as to speak out about congressional districts beyond her own, as if she’s the national chair of the Democratic National Committee (she’s not, Tom Perez is), calling for local Dems to challenge incumbents during the next round of primaries. A foolish move that should have AOC’s mentor(s) and/or handler(s) stepping in to help guide her to a smooth landing.

Ocasio-Cortez may say she’s playing to her constituent base but suggesting that fellow Dems get primaried was a tone-deaf exercise that she may someday regret, especially when she introduces legislation that requires assistance of her Democrat teammates.

What’s been lacking, so far, from AOC is a dose of humility. She behaves like she already knows everything. Her lacking-specifics proposal for a 70 percent tax on the super-wealthy, to fund green energy initiatives, would contribute to increasing the deficit, according to the Manhattan Institute, when green initiative spending is factored in.

It would be a good idea for Ocasio-Cortez to spend less time promoting herself as part of the self-proclaimed frosh congressional #Dreamteam or “Squad,” which includes AOC, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and look at how Lauren Underwood, a freshman representative from Illinois, conducts herself.

(Tlaib should also model Underwood. Tlaib’s crude statement that “we’re going to impeach the m.f.” was in such poor taste it may permanently mark her career. Her unrefined rant provides another example of the coarsening of politics, and American discourse in general. In that moment, Tlaib proved herself to have no more class than the president.)

Lauren Underwood, only three years older than AOC, is, according to Democratic Congressional Campaign Chairwoman Cheri Bustos, “smart, a good listener and a hard-worker who is good with people.” Translation: Underwood is no-nonsense, about the business and not showy.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, chair of the House Oversight Committee, says of Underwood, “I’m glad she’s here. She’s a breath of fresh air. And I thank God for her.” One wonders how many in Congress are saying those words about Ocasio-Cortez.

But there is plenty of time to course correct if AOC will, as Steph Curry says, let the game come to her rather than forcing herself on us.

The media is at it again

To be fair to Ocasio-Cortez, the media, as is often the case, pounces on the newest big personality and has contributed to her over-exposure, with near-daily reporting about AOC; the words she utters and the tweets she posts. The media, e.g. CNN and MSNBC, did the same for Trump after he announced his candidacy for president.

There is no reason, for example, that Ocasio-Cortez should have gotten a high-profile interview on 60 Minutes.

Why not hear from someone like California’s Rep. Maxine Waters, chair of the House Financial Services Committee? Waters is outspoken but is also a, “first-rate legislator” according to former Rep. Barney Frank. Yes, Waters can be, as Frank points out, “sharp-edged.” But with her vast experience Frank says Waters is a proven “constructive legislator.”

Ocasio-Cortez also has a definite, refreshing sharp-edge. However, she needs to learn the art of nuance and subtlety, while she acquires legislative experience at the highest level. And the media needs to stop treating everything she says or does as big news.

Just last night MSNBC’s The Last Word opened with a segment about Ocasio-Cortez who, along with a few other freshman members of Congress, went to the Senate chamber to deliver a letter to Mitch McConnell, asking him to re-open the government. While a rarity, members of Congress have done this in the past, notably to successfully force the Senate to re-open the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearing.

But to see one of cable news’ most capable hosts, Lawrence O’Donnell, fawning during his show last night, saying Ocasio-Cortez is the second most famous member of Congress, you would think she invented the internet.

However, Ocasio-Cortez chasing after McConnell was largely a symbolic political gesture. The likelihood is that it will take intense pressure from Republican constituents and GOP senators to compel McConnell to engage, or go around, Trump and end the shutdown.

The Big Dogs

Regardless, the House members who matter most right now are those with deep experience. Among them are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Elijah Cummings of the Oversight Committee, Adam Schiff of the Judiciary Committee and Jerry Nadler of the Intelligence Committee.

More so with The New York Times reporting the FBI had/has a counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s blatant accommodation toward Russia, there is nothing – not immigration, not gun control, not the Fight for $15, not voter suppression, nor anything else – that remotely compares with the importance of removing the dangerous, abhorrent fraud currently sitting in the White House Oval Office.

All we need from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and her #Dreamteam cohorts, is a “yes” vote when the time to impeach arrives.

Douglas FreelandJanuary 17, 2019