OPINION:
Although she is playing it coy, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, is clearly interested in a run for the White House.
Republicans are cheering her on. They can imagine no better opponent for 2028.
What might be called an exploratory committee has formed independently. Its website claims to have the support of 500 political and union leaders across 35 states and aims to recruit 10,000 leaders.
People were interested in these podcasts
The socialist icon has not said she will run, but she has not ruled it out either. The success of socialist candidates across the country is, in many ways, her success, as she campaigned for and raised money for them. In the midterm elections, at least 79 candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America had won local, state and federal offices as of Nov. 10, according to Ballotpedia.
If there is a loony-left position Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has not embraced, it is not for lack of trying.
She supports “Medicare for All,” which is socialized medicine by another name. Besides having failed everywhere it has been tried, including Britain and Canada, it would give government the power of life and death — the ability to decide which patients will receive life-giving care and which will not.
The congresswoman from New York is the lead sponsor of the Green New Deal, which aims to ban fossil fuels. She also supports guaranteed employment for all, or a federal job for anyone unable or unwilling to find work in the private sector.
She supports ending large-scale immigration enforcement and defends unlimited access to asylum and open borders.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez claims that she no longer supports abolishing police and prisons. That was so “Woke 1,” she says. Translation: There is no way on earth we could sell that to voters.
The congresswoman’s appearance at the Munich Security Conference in February showed she lacks a basic understanding of history, geography and diplomacy. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez incorrectly claimed that Venezuela lies below the equator — in fact, the entire country sits in the Northern Hemisphere.
At the conference, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez once again accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Critics described doing so in the land that perpetrated the Holocaust as “beyond obscene.”
Since the 1972 George McGovern debacle, Democratic successes have been premised on convincing voters that their nominees are moderates. That worked with Presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama and Biden. With Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, it would be the sales job of the century.
The Democrats will shun Ms. Ocasio-Cortez like a plague victim, not because they necessarily disagree with her goals but because they are terrified by her candor.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.