Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's surprisingly large victory last night over high- ranking House Dem Joseph Crowley may have been due to several factors, but one lesson must be learned by Democratic leaders:
What to make of that lightning bolt that struck the Democratic Party Tuesday night when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat incumbent Congressman Joe Crowley in their primary—and I mean crushed him, by 16 percentage points? Most people are going to see it as a left vs. establishment story, and sure, that’s legit.
But I see it in another context, too, one that I fear will be overlooked. It’s a generational story, and a story about how to be in touch with younger Democratic voters, which Democratic leadership [Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Schumer] did a horrible job of demonstrating this week in its responses to RedHenGate. And those Democratic leaders better be aware of this and change their game accordingly, or they will fail to communicate to their voters that they understand what’s at stake in this election. (our emphasis)We're far, far closer to Nancy Pelosi's and Chuck Schumer's age than Ocasio-Cortez, so we feel liberated to say that having 70- somethings Pelosi, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Rep. James Clyburn and Schumer as the face of the Democratic Party (especially as a timid, cluck- clucking face) is the closest thing to a gift that existential threat Donald "Rump" Trump has in the opposition. They may be savvy legislators, but they seem to be missing the import of the times rather badly; too many collegial club happy hours with the nihilists, perhaps.
On Pelosi, in particular:
As it happens, Pelosi seized an opportunity earlier in the week to demonstrate just how shockingly out of touch she is in how she rebuked Maxine Waters for her controversial remarks about the Sarah Huckabee Sanders restaurant matter. Waters went too far, as she sometimes does. So it wasn’t crazy for Pelosi to decide to put a little space between herself and Waters.
But get the language of Pelosi’s tweet: “In the crucial months ahead, we must strive to make America beautiful again. Trump’s daily lack of civility has provoked responses that are predictable but unacceptable. As we go forward, we must conduct elections in a way that achieves unity from sea to shining sea.” [snip]
Democrats need to keep their eyes on the prize here. They are not going to win this fall playing a game of defensive caution. They need young voters and women voters of the sort who carried both Ocasio-Cortez and [Conor] Lamb to victory. If the spirit of that Pelosi tweet is the spirit that’s getting through to those voters come October, they’re doomed.Infidel 753 makes the related point that the leadership (in the form of the DCCC, but could also be DSCC or DNC) needs to understand the energy candidates like Ocasio-Cortez bring and harness rather than resist it:
... It's true that NY-14 is so solidly Democratic that Ocasio-Cortez will almost certainly win even without DCCC support, but that's not the point -- the leadership needs to demonstrate that it supports the "big tent" and recognizes that winning as many seats as possible is more important than getting exactly the candidates it wants. She represents the wave of the future and the kind of candidate that enthuses the party's real base, which is critical to its success, especially in an off-year election. (our emphasis)Here in the Maryland gubernatorial primary, the Democratic establishment went all in on respected party fixture County Executive Rushern Baker (58), who lost big to charismatic Ben Jealous (45), the former head of the NAACP. Jealous ran passionately on an unabashedly progressive agenda versus Baker's more "pragmatist" moderate stance. Beyond an almost one generation age difference, Jealous' grasp of the base of the party's activist zeitgeist seems to have been the deciding factor.
In 2018 and beyond, we need all Democrats to be pulling in the same direction, which is to take the House and possibly the Senate back, and as many State gubernatorial and legislative races as possible. The leadership issues will sort themselves out accordingly after November, but in the meantime, be assured that "the times they are a-changin'."
