Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is undoubtedly the head of the Democratic Party in terms of seniority and title, there is little debate that her leadership has been challenged over the past six months by a group of young freshmen members of Congress, the outspokenly far-left progressive cohort led by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Pelosi took a shot at that group in a recent interview and downplayed their influence, but Ocasio-Cortez fired right back at the Speaker with a pair of tweets that not only insisted the group was more powerful than Pelosi believed, but also insinuated that the veteran lawmaker is handcuffed by the politics of the past.
Pelosi takes aim
During Pelosi’s interview with The New York Times, it didn’t take long before the topic arose of Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of her “squad” that includes Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Presley, particularly their recent votes in opposition to a humanitarian aid bill for illegal aliens temporarily detained at the southern border.
“All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said. “But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
Later in the interview, Pelosi insisted she was still a progressive liberal fighting for the same progressive causes after 30 years and issued another message to the outspoken young progressives in her caucus:
“I understand what they’re saying. But we have a responsibility to get something done, which is different from advocacy. We have to have a solution, not just a Twitter fight,” the speaker said.
Ocasio-Cortez fires back
Needless to say, Pelosi’s not-so-subtle dig at Ocasio-Cortez’s faction and their prolific use of social media did not sit particularly well with the young congresswoman from New York, who, unsurprisingly, took to Twitter to issue a response.
That public “whatever” is called public sentiment.
And wielding the power to shift it is how we actually achieve meaningful change in this country. https://t.co/u6JtgwwRsk
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019
Moments later, AOC tweeted again, expressing frustration about Pelosi’s criticism of social media.
I find it strange when members act as though social media isn’t important.
They set millions of 💵 on 🔥 to run TV ads so people can see their message.
I haven’t dialed for dollars *once* this year, & have more time to do my actual job. Yet we’d rather campaign like it’s 2008.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019
Old vs. new
It is impossible to deny that there is a clear power struggle taking place between Pelosi — a symbol of the Old Guard Democratic Party establishment — and Ocasio-Cortez, who has stepped to the forefront as the leader of the new young upstarts looking to overturn the status quo.
The thing is, both sides of this battle have a point and both sides are wrong at the same time. On the one hand, the effectiveness of social media for issue advocacy and messaging is undeniable — just look at how President Donald Trump harnessed it to serve as a key factor in his 2016 victory.
However, there is also far more to being a productive member of Congress than Twitter advocacy and rallying the base, as there is a need to achieve tangible legislative accomplishments that inevitably require a degree of compromise and cooperation of which Ocasio-Cortez and her allies seem incapable.
Odds are, we haven’t seen the last dust-up between Ocasio-Cortez and Pelosi over the direction and leadership of the Democratic Party, and at least as of this point, it remains unclear which of these two charismatic leaders will be the one holding the reins in the end.
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