AOC criticized from the left for endorsing Biden: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, a leading figure of the Democrats’ left flank, has endorsed President Biden for re-election, which has angered some of her longtime fans.
AOC Has a New Problem
In another circumstance, it wouldn’t have been difficult to imagine Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) launching a presidential challenge to President Biden, from the left.
The Congresswoman known as AOC backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in 2020, and would form a fascinating contrast with Biden, were she to run against him. Aside from their ideological differences Biden, of course, is 80, while AOC is much younger- in fact, she turns the constitutionally mandated age of 35 in October of 2024, just before the election.
But AOC, a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, has not pursued a presidential run, and in fact, last week she endorsed Biden’s bid for a second term. And while the last two Democratic presidential primary contests pitted a leftist candidate (Sanders) against the more center-left choice of the party’s mainstream, it looks like that’s not going to be the case in 2024. Sanders, in fact, has himself endorsed Biden as well.
The main Democratic challenger to Biden is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is not running as a leftist but rather seems to be getting most of his support from figures of the political right.
“I think he’s done quite well, given the limitations that we have,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said in the endorsement, which came on the Pod Save America podcast– itself a mainstream Democratic media organ, hosted by a crew of former Obama staffers.
When asked if she supports Biden, AOC answered “I believe, given that field, yes.”
Her decision to endorse the president has led to some consternation from her fellow leftists. That included Ben Burgis, of the lefty publication Jacobin.
“Why should any of them endorse Biden — especially right now?,” Burgis wrote of AOC, Sanders, and others of the left who have backed the president. “It would be one thing if this were late 2024 and the country were facing an imminent choice between Biden and Donald Trump (or Biden and Ron DeSantis) and there was a real danger that the greater evil would win. Right now, though, we’re several months away from the first primaries.”
Burgis also argued that the left should be doing more to pressure the president, rather than back him this early.
“Left politicians should be looking for opportunities to make those distinctions clear,” he wrote. “And a premature show of unity with the President who intervened to break a rail strike just seven months ago does exactly the opposite.”
MSNBC this week also published an op-ed earlier this week, by Zeeshan Aleem, stating “What Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should’ve done instead of endorsing Biden.” Aleem’s argument was similar.
“The president really has surprised left-leaning Americans with how ambitious he’s been on social spending,” Alex writes. “But the endorsement was also a strategic misstep. Why throw support behind Biden over half a year before the primaries even begin, without attempting to secure more future commitments?”
An article on the World Socialist Web Site, by Patrick Martin, was even tougher on AOC, calling her backing of the president “the bankruptcy of DSA politics,” in reference to her roots in the Democratic Socialists of America. WSWS’ main beef seems to be Biden’s support of Ukraine.
“Their support for US militarism means as well support for ever deeper attacks on the living standards and social conditions of the working class, through which both big business parties intend to finance the escalating war drive,” Martin wrote, while also denouncing the “ anti-socialist, pro-imperialist, pro-war DSA to the US-led drive to dismember Russia and steal its resources.”
AOC had announced in May that she was running for re-election to her Congressional seat, and not pursuing a challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Could she run for president one day? She discussed that in an interview last year with GQ.
“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. And so those are two very conflicting things,” she said. “I admit to sometimes believing that I live in a country that would never let that happen.”
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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