{"id":113474,"date":"2019-01-11T15:01:27","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T19:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=113474"},"modified":"2019-01-12T11:40:44","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T15:40:44","slug":"oac-driving-the-dems-crazy-already","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=113474","title":{"rendered":"AOC Driving the DEMs Crazy Already"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_113475\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/static.politico.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-113475\" class=\"size-large wp-image-113475\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/static.politico-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/static.politico-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/static.politico-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/static.politico-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/static.politico.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-113475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Incumbent Democrats are most annoyed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s threat to back primary opponents against members of their ranks she deems too moderate. | Andrew Harnik\/AP Photo<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<div class=\" story-intro format-s\">\n<div class=\"summary \">\n<header class=\"\">\n<h1 class=\" \">Exasperated Democrats try to rein in Ocasio-Cortez<\/h1>\n<p class=\"subhead\">The effort is part carrot, part stick. But it&#8217;s far from clear the anti-establishment political novice can be made to play ball.<\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">By\u00a0RACHAEL BADE\u00a0and\u00a0HEATHER CAYGLE<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<footer class=\"meta\">\n<p class=\"byline\">POLITICO<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is already making enemies in the House Democratic Caucus \u2014 and some of its members are mounting an operation to bring the anti-establishment, democratic socialist with 2.2 million Twitter followers into the fold.<\/p>\n<p>The effort, described by nearly 20 lawmakers and aides, is part carrot, part stick: Some lawmakers with ties to Ocasio-Cortez are hoping to coax her into using her star power to unite Democrats and turn her fire on Republicans. Others simultaneously warn Ocasio-Cortez is destined for a lonely, ineffectual career in Congress if she continues to treat her own party as the enemy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"story-interrupt format-s pos-alpha predetermined fixed-story-third-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"interrupt-item ad\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\">\n<div id=\"pol-05\" class=\"ad-slot js-lazy-load flex vertical \" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure Ms. Cortez means well, but there\u2019s almost an outstanding rule: Don\u2019t attack your own people,\u201d said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.). \u201cWe just don\u2019t need sniping in our Democratic Caucus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Incumbent Democrats are most annoyed by Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s threat to back primary opponents against members of their ranks she deems too moderate. But their frustration goes beyond that: Democratic leaders are upset that she railed against their new set of House rules on Twitter the first week of the new Congress. Rank and file are peeved that there\u2019s a grassroots movement to try to win her a top committee post they feel she doesn\u2019t deserve.<\/p>\n<p>Even some progressives who admire AOC, as she\u2019s nicknamed, told POLITICO that they worry she\u2019s not using her notoriety effectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe needs to decide: Does she want to be an effective legislator or just continue being a Twitter star?\u201d said one House Democrat who\u2019s in lockstep with Ocasio Cortez\u2019s ideology. \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being an activist and a lawmaker in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an open question whether Ocasio-Cortez can be checked. She\u2019s barely been in Congress a week and is better known than almost any other House member other than Nancy Pelosi and John Lewis. A media throng follows her every move, and she can command a national audience practically at will.<\/p>\n<p>None of that came playing by the usual rules: Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s willingness to take on her party establishment with unconventional guerrilla tactics is what got her here. It\u2019s earned her icon status on the progressive left, it\u2019s where the 29-year-old freshman derives her power \u2014 and, by every indication, it\u2019s how she thinks she can pull the Democratic Party in her direction.<\/p>\n<p>The Freedom Caucus didn\u2019t win many popularity contests in Congress the past four years, but it\u2019s hard to dispute<b>\u00a0<\/b>the hard-liners\u2019 success dragging the GOP to the right.<\/p>\n<p>Still, fellow Democrats are giving it their best, or planning to in the near future.<\/p>\n<p>So far, most of them have kept their criticism of Ocasio-Cortez private, fearful she\u2019ll sic her massive following on them by firing off a tweet. But a few are engaging with her in the hopes she\u2019ll opt for a different M.O., especially when it comes to trying to take out Democrats in primaries.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (D-N.Y.) is playing a key role. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Vel\u00e1zquez knocked off a longtime Democratic incumbent to win her seat, and they share Puerto Rican roots.<\/p>\n<p>In private conversations with Ocasio-Cortez over the past few months, Vel\u00e1zquez counseled Ocasio-Cortez against targeting her Democratic colleagues in future elections. The two had a \u201clong, long conversation\u201d about the dynamics of Congress and Washington, and how there shouldn\u2019t be a \u201clitmus test\u201d for every district, Vel\u00e1zquez said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n<p>After she defeated Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley in shocking fashion last year, Ocasio-Cortez supported primary challengers to Democratic Reps. Stephanie Murphy of Florida, William Lacy Clay of Missouri and Mike Capuano of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>Only Capuano lost. But Vel\u00e1zquez told Ocasio-Cortez she should think twice in the future before backing primaries against her colleagues. Murphy, the first Vietnamese woman elected to Congress, represents a swing district and could lose her seat if she\u2019s forced to move left in a primary, Vel\u00e1zquez said during the talk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWashington is a political animal where a lot of the work that you want to accomplish depends on relationships within the Democratic Caucus,\u201d said Vel\u00e1zquez, who described herself as a \u201cbridge\u201d between Ocasio-Cortez and the caucus. \u201cThe honeymoon between the voters that you represent and yourself could be a short one. People want to see results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other lawmakers agreed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think she needs to give herself an opportunity to know her colleagues and to give herself a sense of the chemistry of the body before passing judgment on anyone or anything,\u201d said Rep. Yvette Clarke, a fellow New York Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s new here, feeling her way around,\u201d added Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.). \u201cShe doesn\u2019t understand how the place works yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ocasio-Cortez, through her staff, declined to be interviewed for this story. But there are signs that she\u2019s getting the message, at least when it comes to backing primary challenges against her colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>In a brief exchange off the House floor recently, she said she wasn\u2019t interested in backing progressive candidates against incumbent Democrats \u2014 contradicting her own words after the midterms. She also criticized POLITICO for publishing a story suggesting she considered backing a primary opponent against rising star Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who many believe could become the first black speaker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m focused on my job,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said.<\/p>\n<p>Her spokesman, Corbin Trent, added: \u201cThere has been a change in focus \u2014 though not a change in ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some House Democrats aren\u2019t convinced. They\u2019ve noticed that Ocasio-Cortez has hired two former organizers from the anti-establishment group Justice Democrats to run her office. One of them, her new chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, told supporters during a November conference call that \u201cwe gotta primary folks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ocasio-Cortez appeared to agree with him during the call, arguing that \u201call Americans know money in politics is a huge problem, but unfortunately the way that we fix it is by demanding that our incumbents give it up or by running fierce campaigns ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong story short, I need you to run for office,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/states\/new-york\/albany\/story\/2018\/11\/17\/ocasio-cortez-throws-support-behind-campaign-to-primary-democrats-702887\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>she told<\/u><\/a>\u00a0progressive activists on the call. \u201cThat&#8217;s really what we need to do to save this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Comments like that got Ocasio-Cortez off on the wrong foot with her colleagues, to say the least.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not unreasonable for people to wonder\u201d whether she will come after them, said Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.). \u201cI\u2019m choosing not to focus on if she\u2019s going to run someone against someone \u2026 but by seeing how we can more effectively work with her and bring her ideas to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ocasio-Cortez is an enigma to most House Democrats. She\u2019s very friendly in person, chatting up fellow lawmakers and security workers in the Capitol as she\u2019s tailed by admirers and reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Then they see the Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter, where she frequently snaps at critics and occasionally at fellow Democrats. When House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that a new climate committee that Ocasio-Cortez championed would not have subpoena power, she retweeted the news and chastised Democratic leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to treat Climate Change like the serious, existential threat it is by drafting an ambitious solution on the scale necessary \u2014 aka a Green New Deal \u2014 to get it done,\u201d she said. \u201cA weak committee misses the point &amp; endangers people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two House Democratic sources compared her use of Twitter to Donald Trump\u2019s. Just as congressional Republicans constantly withhold criticism of the president out of fear he\u2019ll unleash a tweet at them, some Democrats have done the same with Ocasio-Cortez.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are afraid of her,\u201d said one senior Democratic aide.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) predicted that Ocasio-Cortez will soon learn that Republicans are \u201cthe real enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe will come to the understanding that it\u2019s a better use of her time fighting the Republican Party than her Democratic colleagues who agree with her on green energy,\u201d said Maloney, who called Ocasio-Cortez \u201cvery nice\u201d and \u201cvery charming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Others aren\u2019t so sure. They point to her first week in Congress: Ocasio-Cortez aggravated Democratic leaders and even some fellow progressives when she tweeted that she\u2019d oppose the Democratic rules package, arguing it would stymie liberal priorities like \u201cMedicare for all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>House Democrats were also unhappy when she made a play for a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Lawmakers suspected Ocasio-Cortez was behind a massive online campaign pressing Pelosi to appoint her to the panel, though her office said she was not.<\/p>\n<p>Critics inside the caucus felt she didn&#8217;t deserve it, given her lack of professional experience on tax issues and her status as a freshman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt totally pissed off everyone,\u201d said one senior House Democratic lawmaker of the campaign. \u201cYou don\u2019t get picked for committees by who your grass-roots [supporters] are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the issue of pushing primaries against Democratic incumbents such as Jeffries, who was recently elected chairman of the Democratic Caucus, is what\u2019s agitated rank-and-file members the most.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe chances that the Democratic caucus will stand by and watch its chair get attack and people piling on him \u2014 by Democrats! \u2014 is so obscene that I think you\u2019ll find one of the strongest reactions that could possibly be anticipated,\u201d Cleaver said.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said he\u2019s taking Ocasio-Cortez at her word that \u201cshe wants to work with everybody,\u201d as he said she told him. Meeks and other members of the New York delegation intend to nominate Ocasio-Cortez to serve on the Financial Services Committee, an exclusive panel, early next week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s one thing\u201d for outside activists to go after Democratic incumbents, Meeks said. \u201cIt\u2019s another thing when you\u2019re in this institution and you\u2019ve got to work to get things done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Rep. Ra\u00fal Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the former head of the House Progressive Caucus, said Democrats should probably get used to Ocasio-Cortez.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s \u201cgoing to force some of the members to have to align with or against her,\u201d he said. \u201cIn that sense, I would assume that can be irritating to some.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe it\u2019s the aunt or uncle you didn\u2019t want to invite to the wedding,\u201d Grijalva added, but Ocasio-Cortez \u201cis part of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/01\/11\/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democrats-establisment-1093728\">https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2019\/01\/11\/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democrats-establisment-1093728<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}