Abraham Lincoln went from the House to the White House. He was never Governor or Senator. John Kennedy went from being junior Senator, an absentee Senator hardly active in the committees, to being president.
AOC has to realize the committee structure in the House is a political swamp. No, she does not owe her constituents endless hours in committee. That is the way of slow political death. All the things AOC wants, they will not be done by committee, at least not by the current committees of the current House. Nancy Pelosi is a fine person, but she is not the answer. She does not have answers. It can be argued, she does not even have the questions.
The way you firmly establish Green New Deal on the 2020 map is by crisscrossing the country. Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement must merge and become one organization. That unified organization could call itself Green New Deal Nation. And AOC has to lead that organization. That organization has to fund AOC's national travels.
There is a minimum amount of committee work that no member of Congress can avoid. And that is fine. But that has to be kept to the barest minimum by someone like AOC. Her appeal is national. Her appeal is the new generation. Her platform is social media.
Granted committee work can also be a great way to earn political capital. One example, this bad guy video.
The Green New Deal is not a policy proposal, not yet. It is a conversation. It is a discussion. It is a grand conversation that has to be made grander. People have to participate. Steering that conversation is important.
AOC has to be proactive, not reactive. Proactive is participating in and shaping the conversation around the Green New Deal. Reactive is responding to every right-wing media zinger and responding to every news of the day. It is tempting. But don't give in.
The goal is to firmly establish the Green New Deal in a way that no Democrat in 2020 can afford to skip that. And committee participation is not how you gain that political capital. For that, you have to crisscross the country. Your personal staff cannot manage that. It has to be an organization.
The Green New Deal is an evolving policy proposal. And we are talking Green New Deal 1.0 right now. 2028 will be time for Green New Deal 2.0.
The Green New Deal is going to be an amazing fusion of technology and politics. Tech entrepreneurs are going to play a major role. In fact, the deciding role. But only vibrant democratic processes will make sure the human being will stay at the center of it all.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Unfavorable Rating Climbs: Gallup The congresswoman’s high profile so early in her term is exceeded only by that of Hillary Clinton in 2001, Gallup says. .... While half of Americans had not heard of or had no opinion of Ocasio-Cortez in September, more than 7 in 10 U.S. adults now know of and have an opinion of her .... The only more-recognized member of Congress so early in their term was Hillary Clinton, who had served as first lady before being elected to Congress .... Just 5 percent of GOP respondents reported that they have a favorable view of her, while nearly 6 in 10 Democrats say they like her. .... Younger adults and non-whites are also more likely to say they have a favorable idea of Ocasio-Cortez. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the most famous member of Congress: poll attributing her high name recognition to her outsize presence on social media and intense media coverage..... The main reason for the negative uptick: More Republicans are turned off by the self-described Democratic socialist.....56 percent of Democrats view her favorably compared to 15 percent who don’t.
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