AOC’s Pained Feelings May Not Reflect Facts

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

U.S. Representative (NY) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is discouraged and disillusioned and as the bold person she is, she’s talking about it.

A political and media dynamo, there are some in the media who wonder if Ocasio-Cortez could one day run for and win the U.S. presidency. AOC figuratively shook her head and responded in as pointed a manner, not only about herself but women, period, in a GQ feature written by Wesley Lowery.

“I hold two contradictory things [in mind] at the same time. One is just the relentless belief that anything is possible,” she said. “But at the same time, my experience here has given me a front-row seat to how deeply and unconsciously, as well as consciously, so many people in this country hate women. And they hate women of color.

“And it’s not just the right wing. Misogyny transcends political ideology: left, right, center. This grip of patriarchy affects all of us, not just women; men, as I mentioned before, but also, ideologically, there’s an extraordinary lack of self-awareness in so many places,” Ocasio-Cortez told GQ.

“And so those are two very conflicting things. I admit to sometimes believing that I live in a country that would never let that happen.”

AOC’s message could be one that many women and people of color will appreciate her for communicating. It’s a show of leadership as well.

“Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is doing a service to the country by getting the question of women and minorities in politics out into the public sphere,” says William S. Bike, a political scientist, senior vice president at Central Park Communications and author of “Winning Political Campaigns.”

“It’s a fact that in 2016 that some people voted for Donald Trump instead of Hillary Clinton just because Trump was a man and Hillary was a woman,” he says.

However, Bike questions if AOC’s assertion is factual about whether she, as a woman could become president, “…attitudes are changing fast, in both parties, so I don’t necessarily agree with her pessimistic view,” he says.

Yet AOC’s painful experiences have created the doubts and hopelessness she expresses.

“I think Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is viewing the entire political spectrum through the prism of how she has been treated,” Bike says, empathizing.

“That is understandable, because the right wing has made her one of the Democrats they most love to hate, and the January 6 insurrectionists literally would have murdered her had they found her in the capitol that day. But overall, I think outreach to women and minorities is a huge priority to both parties.”

AOC’s comments won’t result, Bike says, in any self-inflicted damage to her name and reputation, regardless of her ongoing critics in government, the media and the public.

“Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is doing no damage to herself communicating what she did,” Bike asserts. “Her supporters are not going to dump her because she is offering her opinion. The whole reason she was elected in the first place and why she was re-elected is because she offers a different perspective than the party regulars.”

As for AOC’s shock and frustration that there is in-party fighting and tribalism, Bike says that’s nothing new and Ocasio-Cortez is still learning how to adapt. It's been sobering to her.

“It’s only in recent years that the attitude in the United States has been my party, right or wrong,’ and that one is not only wrong but evil if one disagrees with the party,” Bike says.

“If elected officials are not going to disagree with their party, why even have them? Why not just let the President or Governor just appoint lackeys and toadies to everything?”