Would AOC really be a better Minority Leader?

No, but seriously, imagine it..

(AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Actually imagine that AOC is Minority Leader.

Her job, in this scenario is to get all Dems to vote against more funding for ICE.

Do you think her arguments will convince Henry Cuellar? How about Vicente Gonzalez? How about Republicans? Think her arguments convince Brian Fitzpatrick or Mike Lawler to vote with us? And if they did, do you think you’d like her much after?

THAT is the job of Dem House Leadership, especially the whip and leader.

And Hakeem Jeffries and Katherine Clark are pretty damn good at it. They have kept the caucus together time and time again.

That is because they are able to talk to more conservative Democrats the same way they are able to talk to Progressives and because they pick their battles and don’t make more combative members feel like they have no agency.

There’s a reason you don’t hear much from the Progressives, in congress, calling out Jeffries, because they could not do better.

Now, you might not like what he says in a press conference, or how his digital staff words something on social media, but that’s a small fraction of the job of Minority Leader.

There’s a reason that Indivisible co-founders, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, say that if you want to make a different you have to call YOUR member, not leadership. Because leadership aren’t OUR leaders, they are our electeds’ leaders.

Their job is to lead the caucus, their constituents are the elected Democrats, not us (unless you are literally their constituent, then it’s a little different.)

They are not supposed to be the most outspoken, they are supposed to represent their constituents, as in their colleagues. It’s our job to let their constituents know how we feel. We are the ones that can move the needle.

I wanna be clear, I like AOC, I didn’t always, but I do now. I think she’s smart and pragmatic and is able to keep her progressive values while also seeing the big picture, but I don’t think she’d be a very good Minority Leader or Speaker.

And let’s say I’m wrong, let’s say she’s REALLY good at talking to our most conservative members.

Do you still like her? Do you still like her when she has to stay in DC instead of going to a field hearing cause it’s her caucus, and there’s things that she has to do in DC?

Do you still like her when she gives her 20th press conference on lowering costs cause, turns out, contrary to popular belief, that is still what most Americans care about.

Do you still like her when, try as she might, and she tried SO hard, she cannot whip all votes against a bill?

Do you still like her when she starts moderating her positions so that MAYBE she can get that final Dem to cave and vote with the rest of the caucus?

Do you still like her when she does an interview but doesn’t say if she’s whipping votes against a certain bill cause she needs to see if it’s even plausible first?

This is what comes with being Leader.

You’re not going to like the leader. Any Minority Leader, Majority Leader or Speaker. And you’re not supposed to.

They Do Not Represent Us.

That’s not their job, that’s never been their job, and that never will be their job.

Jeffries might not be the perfect leader, but I think you’d like the perfect leader even less, to be quite honest. Someone who understands the conservatives in the party enough to get them to vote the right way every time would not be your favorite person. And you wouldn’t like the arguments that get us there.

PLEASE learn how government works, before you insist you know better and your way is right.