AOC: on beyond charisma

 

I am prejudiced against charismatic politicians. They may be working for ends I support, but I always worry they are people who have gotten used to getting over because they could charm or awe their admirers. I hesitate to get on board unless they demonstrate substance and accomplishment.

Some people found Bill Clinton charismatic -- I never could see it. Smart sure, but undisciplined.

I didn't immediately warm to Barack Obama in 2007-8. He drew me in with his defense of his relationship with Reverend Wright, his pastor who spoken aloud normal Black people's suspicion of the good intentions of white folks. Grappling with this for a white audience took something more than charisma.

 

I was not an early fan when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez burst upon the Democratic Party scene in 2018. The young Congressperson represented a lot of necessary insurgent progressive policy demands and could communicate them brilliantly -- but was she for real?

 

Five years later, it seems more and more clear she's not just some ephemeral shooting star. The Guardian (UK) offered a fascinating interview with the Congresswoman recently. She's adept are explaining how she deals with issues that are hard for the U.S. left.

 

On Ukraine: 

For the left, the war in Ukraine is potentially ... complicated. Putin’s invasion is by any measure an affront to morality. But US support for Ukraine has put critics of the military-industrial complex (the government spends about $900bn a year on defence, around 15% of the federal budget or 3.3% of the gross domestic product) in the uncomfortable position of rooting for the Pentagon and endorsing a windfall for defence contractors. Longtime sceptics of US imperialism suddenly find themselves aligned with Republican hawks.

Ocasio-Cortez articulates the uneasy accommodation: “It’s a legitimate conversation. I think on one hand, it is important for us to underscore what a dramatic threat to global order Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is and continues to be. We must defend democracy. We cannot allow this reversion into almost a late 19th-century imperial invasion order – it is so incredibly destabilising and dangerous. We must fight against that precedent. We must protect the democracy of Ukraine and the sovereignty of Ukraine 100%.

“I think it’s also relevant to acknowledge that this is happening on the heels of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and how many of us were raised growing up saying this was going to be temporary, and it became a forever war. I believe that acknowledging the anxieties of our history of that is relevant.

“Indicating to the people of this country what are we looking for, what are the levels of accountability, is not something that I think is an affront to democracy. I think the American people understandably want clarity about what our commitments are, to what extent they are. I think that is absolutely fair. We do not want a forever war and we also don’t want a return to a 19th-century imperial order either.”

She endorsed Joe Biden in May, long before she had to. She has explained why and what the implications are for US. progressives:

“It’s just a reality that we have very different political coalitions that constitute the Democratic party and being able to define that, I actually think this grants us much power. It’s to say, listen, I am not defined by nor do I agree with all of the stances of this president, and I’m sure neither does he with mine.

“But that does not mean that we are not in this together against the greater forces and questions of our time, and I think being able to demonstrate that ability to coalesce puts us in a position of far greater strength than, say, the Republican party who are at each other’s necks to the extent that they can’t even fund the government.”

... “We are not in 2020, and seeing what that turnout may look like is something that I’m sure keeps many of us up at night. But that being said, I know that this is why, to me, support of President Biden has been very important, because this question is larger than any policy differences. This is truly about having a strong front against fascism in the United States.

... “I think sometimes in the US, especially on the left but even across the political spectrum, there is a struggle between more grassroots movements feeling as though engaging in electoralism is a form of selling out, or the compromises required in being part of a legislative system are somehow delegitimising to an authentic relationship to advancing the working class.

Will she someday seek a higher position than that of Congresswoman from the Bronx? Not soon, but if circumstances allow ... maybe. But she is very clear about what she is up against

... I believe women have emerged as a profound electoral force, especially with the overturning of Roe v Wade. Young women especially I think have been very animated and organised in this moment. I think we are in a moment of generational change.

“We are absolutely contending with an extraordinary misogyny in our politics. The United States can go around and say what it says, but many, many, many other countries have elected female heads of state, whereas the United States has gone well over 200 years without one. Those barriers are very real, but I think the change of this time is also giving a lot of us a lot of hope.”

 Sounds to me as if Ms AOC is acquiring substance. Look out ...