WILL THE DEMOCRATS EVENTUALLY SNATCH DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY?

… AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newest New York Congressional Representative.

Will the new, liberal Democratic Representatives blow-it by dividing the Democratic party?

It was inevitable that as a Democrat, I would have to write something about the new, and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, the New York Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  As rock-star popular as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has become, the self-described Puerto Rican, “girl from the Bronx,” was immediately a target of conservatives and far-right wing groups.  Ocasio-Cortez has won her political stardom by jolting the Democratic establishment and defeating an incumbent congressman for New York’s 14th Congressional District, and doing it all in a virtual landslide.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, is a very liberal Democrat that has become known as “AOC” among her fans.  A video of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s dancing from her college days had appeared on the internet from her opposition, and it was expected to be a smear on her.  But the video went viral, and it totally back-fired by giving AOC her “Rock Star” status.

When Ms. Ocasio-Cortez rose to vote for Nancy Pelosi for the Speaker of the House, she was the only one that those men from the Republican backbenches booed and made negative groans.  AOC later complained about being singled out by the GOP.  She said: “Over 200 members voted for Nancy Pelosi today, yet the GOP only booed one person: me."  She then tweeted “Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me, fellas.”

Dana Milbank, the columnist from The Post wrote:  “Actually, the Republicans love Ocasio-Cortez, in the same way Democrats love Mark Meadows and others in the Republicans’ far-right Freedom Caucus. They hate her politics, but they hope the young representative will sow division among all the Democrats. The Republicans were booing her because, this time, she didn’t [sow division]!”

The Democrats in the House had previously been out of power for 20 of the past 24 years.  The GOP would love to see a division within the Democrat’s liberals and moderates.  The decision by Ocasio-Cortez and those others on the far left is about working with, or against, their own party.  This will determine the fate of this new majority and of the resurgent progressive movement.  The Democrats’ have returned to power after wandering around for the last eight years in the wilderness, this of course, holds both great promise, or great potential peril for the Dems.

If they can work together, it will drown the lunatic Trump opposition as it is true that the Democrats have always shown to be better at governing the nation than the GOP.

However, if there is a split within the Dems, they will become an easy foil for the president’s verbal attacks.  The Dems could then lose those suburban seats that just gave them the House.  A loss like that could, (shudder), end up giving Donald Trump a second presidential term.

It is once again time for the Democrats to be the grown-ups in the room.  And with a president like Donald Trump, that is exactly what the American voters want and need.

But when one of the newly elected women, who happens to be a Muslim, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), after only a few hours of being sworn into office, she told a cheering crowd, while being videoed, that we Democrats were “gonna impeach the motherfxxxer,” Trump.

Saying things like this is not what the Democrats need for convincing the American public that they are ready for governing the nation.

It’s also not a good time before Robert Mueller III’s investigative report is released, for the new Rep., Brad Sherman (D-CA), to announce plans to immediately introduce “articles of impeachment against Trump”.

And even though it is understandable for the younger Democratic Reps to want younger DNC leadership, it doesn’t look good when 15 young Democrats refused to vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker.  She is by far, the best and smartest individual to be a legislative mentor to these new Democratic representatives.

To make the point of encouraging the bringing on of younger leadership, Pelosi has agreed that she will not hold the Speaker’s position longer than four years.

But, at the fulcrum of the Democratic unity and division is the newly elected AOC, a current social media sensation.

A few hours after AOC’s vote for Pelosi, she then swung the other way on her first substantive congressional vote.  She opposed a resolution setting out new House rules, negotiated by the entire Democratic caucus.  Her objection was an accounting issue known as “paygo.”  She accused her Democratic colleagues of “a dark political maneuver designed to hamstring progress” on health care and other legislation. Her passionate dissent was highly suspect, as the proposed rule is already a current law, and it was a significant improvement over the former Republican rules.  Only two Democrats joined her rebellion.

AOC has become known for such dramatic stands. She had joined a sit-in at Pelosi’s office demanding a select committee on climate change, but Pelosi had said two weeks earlier that she favored such a committee…?

However, there are some very good areas that AOC has been involved in lately.  She and other newcomers protested some lobbyists’ presence at an unofficial orientation event at Harvard for new congressional members.  This led to a rethinking of the structure of the event.  Their advocacy for Medicare-For-All health coverage has also caused Pelosi to accept these hearings.

But will AOC and fellow liberal hard-liners become the left’s version of the GOP’s Freedom Caucus? Will they object to H.R. 1, the Democrats’ ethics and voting-rights package, because it doesn’t go far enough in banning corporate money?  Will they withhold support for bills unless they can force votes on Medicare-For-All and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)? Or will these firebrands build support for their causes without forcing vulnerable colleagues to cast suicidal votes on questionable bills that obviously won’t become law?

Democratic unity is what gives the liberal members the upper hand in the current government shutdown battle, along with those Republicans that openly question Trump’s strategy.

Democratic unity also allows these new members to appeal to the large majority of American’s that are totally disgusted with Trump.  Pelosi did this during her Speaker’s acceptance speech, uttering “bipartisan” seven times, and praising Republicans such as George H.W. Bush and approvingly quoting President Ronald Reagan on immigration issues.  Ronald Reagan always praised US immigration as the reason for a great United States of America.

Unfortunately, in "Trump's World", Ronald Reagan's name is seldom mentioned.

When Nancy Pelosi made her acceptance speech, there was silence on the Republican side.  It was noted by Mr. Milbank that this group had become a “shrunken sea of old white men”. “You don’t applaud for Ronald Reagan?, ” Pelosi had taunted these old, white Republicans.

The disastrous Trump presidency has given Democratic progressives an extraordinary opportunity.  But they could easily blow it if they end up fighting among themselves.

If that were to happen, it would not be the first time that the Democrats has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Copyright G.Ater 2019