Mention the name Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) in conservative circles, and the immediate response is far more often than not barely suppressed laughter. A bulging-eyed birdbrain, a nit lacking the intelligence to be witted featherweight, useful for mocking alone. Did you hear what she just said about her fellow progressives’ current pet fantasy regarding eliminating the Senate? Did you catch her trying to assume a Southern accent? And on and on. How can anyone take her seriously? Surely no serious political mind does.
The problem with this is that serious political minds are not the dominant force in American politics. The uninformed, or more accurately misinformed, voter plays a far greater role in determining an election’s outcome than insiders and hardcore political junkies often care to admit. The average voter responds to myth far more readily than direct message. A savvy politician understands that it is their image filtered through pop culture and indirectly disseminated through social strata, an image whose origins consist of easily digestible sound bites and uplifting platitudes designed to reach people overtly disinterested in politics yet susceptible to believing what they hear from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend that Politician So-and-So isn’t messing around, that sells. Such is the case with Ocasio-Cortez, who even amid her penchant for glorious gaffes has glommed onto the hope and change message that Barack Obama efficiently utilized on his way to the Oval Office.
Campaigning in Michigan this weekend for progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez argued for liberal policies while making a more universal case against politics-as-usual.
"Is the answer to our problems to turn to the same playbook over and over again?" she asked a crowd of Democrats here. "A playbook that says in order to win we must be defenders of the same status quo that is drowning us and tells us the aspiration to change our government and the ambition to even try is foolish? No, it is not foolish, Michigan."
That recalled Obama in 2007, telling Democrats in Iowa that "the same old Washington textbook campaigns just won't do in this election.… That's why I am asking you to stop settling for what the cynics say we have to accept. In this election — in this moment — let us reach for what we know is possible."
An analysis of the words reveals them to be empty bombast, the political equivalent of a maudlin 1930s melodramatic B-movie soundtrack. However, Ocasio-Cortez is counting on her current and potential followers not to make deep dives. The words sound good. Stick with me, and together we’ll stick it to The Man! I’m not like those other guys and gals! I’m a true outsider standing for you and you alone!
But surely people will see through this, one might think. Ocasio-Cortez has been in office since 2019. She is by default part of the establishment she decries. How can this not be obvious?
Again, remember we are talking about a populace whose political knowledge consists of third-, fourth-, or fifth-generation clips originating from a media hellbent on pushing the progressive narrative. The public at large does not know Ocasio-Cortez well. If they know her at all, they know the projected image. Youthful. Vibrant. Unafraid to speak her mind, perilous a path as that may be. And, when she’s not doing the Overly Attached Girlfriend eyes bit, attractive. Ocasio-Cortez may be giving a message close to that of Bernie Sanders’ socialism lite. In fact, she is. Still, for the public at large, it is much easier to swallow said message whole when the presenter’s image is much more closely aligned to what you’d see on a Hollywood hot celebrity magazine cover than an AARP magazine cover.
Although the media’s direct influence is limited, it remains omnipresent through the already outlined word-of-mouth sowing of political seed. Should Ocasio-Cortez run for President, the media will do everything in its power to get her elected. Coverage will be lockstep and incessantly positive. Interviews will be so tightly scripted the interviewer’s biggest worry will be accidentally blocking Ocasio-Cortez’s teleprompter. Whoever the GOP runs will be pilloried 24/7. If there are debates, they will be so slanted that Saturday Night Live will be taking notes on the fine art of parody, for that is what the “debates” will be—a parody of an actual level exchange between the two candidates. It will be 2008 all over again, only with an even more thoroughly equipped media trying to tip the scales in their preferred candidate’s favor.
Laugh at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez all you wish. She’s provided more than sufficient source material for a chuckle or two. That said, if sometime next year she throws her hat in the ring, the time for laughter will stop, and the time for actively engaging people you know outside of your political circle, explaining with logic and reason the fallacies upon which she will build her platform, will begin.
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