Less than six months ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took office oath. She and her big following Twitter believes for some reason that she is entitled to second-guess House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Unfortunately, she continues to bring a knife to a gun-fight for Ocasio-Cortez.
The issue is that she continues to behave like a lawyer, not a lawmaker. Pelosi’s latest remarks on AOC and her freshmen Democrats, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, and Massachusetts ‘ Ayanna Pressley, shed a spotlight on Pelosi’s younger colleagues ‘ shortcomings.
When asked about the recent $4.6 billion emergency border package, which Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib all voted against in the form of a protest vote, Pelosi said, “All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people, and that’s how many votes they got.”
Nancy Pelosi has to walk the finest political of lines in her role as Speaker. She has a Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, as majority leader of the Senate, and an unpredictable Donald Trump in the White House. Pelosi faces an increasingly progressive portion of her caucus while at the same time knowing plenty of House members won their races in districts Trump carried in 2016.
So, while Ocasio-Cortez continues to tweet and her soundbites continue to make cable news, Speaker Pelosi is going about her way and doing real work. Instead of casual dismissal, Ocasio-Cortez could instead attempt to learn a thing or two from someone serving their second stint as Speaker of the House.
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