lpetrich
Contributor
The interview continued in
AOC on Political Mistakes and the Left’s Growing Pains - "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on political mistakes, the discourse, and the left’s growing pains."
Sometimes even endorsing different candidates in the same race, I must note. Sometimes producing devastating vote splitting, like in NY-10 earlier this year.
AOC on Political Mistakes and the Left’s Growing Pains - "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on political mistakes, the discourse, and the left’s growing pains."
Interviewer Ryan Grim then mentioned how big-money groups and their candidates seem well-coordinated, but that progressives are often less coordinated, like sometimes endorsing candidates late in their campaigns.At the start of her career, Twitter was a place where Ocasio-Cortez could be seen to be leading an army of supporters, but often today it seems more like she’s fighting off an army of critics from the left. Others in the progressive ecosystem who still support Ocasio-Cortez complain that she isn’t invested heavily enough in building infrastructure or supporting candidates early enough for it to matter.
Sometimes even endorsing different candidates in the same race, I must note. Sometimes producing devastating vote splitting, like in NY-10 earlier this year.
After noting some successes by the Working Families Party, like electing 17 candidates to the New York City Council, and supporting Kathy Hochul for Governor, she concedes that one must learn from experience. I agree on that part, learning from what works and what doesn't work.Well, I think some of it just has to do with resources. I think the ability to do that with big money is very different than the ability to do that with not big money. But I also think that the left in this country, like we’ve just been in this — in a big way — for just a couple of years. And so I think that the left is really going through a lot of growth. And I do think that, and I hope that over time, this degree of collaboration gets even better and gets even stronger.
From her, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley in 2018, adding Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush in 2020, and now Greg Casar, Summer Lee, and Delia Ramirez. Pity that Marie Newman lost, though at least she lost to a middle-of-the-road Democrat and not a very conservative one like Dan Lipinski.But I do think that we’re growing, and I do think that the left is growing and maturing. I think that for a very long time, the left of the United States, until very, very recently, is not used to power, not used to being in power, not used to wielding power. And I think sometimes the immediate reaction to making gains is being suspicious of it, because then you can, after so long in the wilderness, eventually — I think sometimes people make the mistake of associating losing with virtue, and winning with a lack of virtue, like you must have done something wrong. And I think that we’re starting to shake that a little bit as a movement and learning to wield some of these wins, especially as we’ve made gains in the last two cycles.