General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Ocasio-Cortez backs campaign to primary fellow Democrats [View all]Tom Rinaldo
(22,912 posts)Not any more than Bill Clinton was "the arbiter" when he was an early strong advocate for the DLC when they were trying to push the Democratic Party more toward the center in the late 80's early 90's. Some Democrats show no interest in politics beyond the boundaries of their districts, others do. This is not new nor unique to AOC. In fact it often happens with newly elected Democrats whose victory has some type of "buzz" associated with it. The public and the media always are looking for the next new thing. Many somewhat ambitious politicians (and ambition is not a bad thing when the motivation is public service) understand that they have a small window of opportunity to quickly establish themselves on the national stage. Sure they could choose instead to slowly work themselves up the ranks over 10 to 15 years, but increasingly that is no longer how it works. It is one of the reasons why Obama went so quickly from the State legislature to Senator to President, and that didn't work out so badly. Some were suggesting that he at least serve a full term in office, but instead he was laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign virtually as soon as he got to Washington. Was he wrong?