Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: a Biography by Hillstrom Laurie Collier;

Author:Hillstrom, Laurie Collier;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO, LLC
Published: 2019-12-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Freshman Legislator

Let’s say I’m only in Congress for two years. If we can radically change the conversation, then we can potentially accomplish more in two years than many people are able to shape the conversation in ten. (Cooper 2019)

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced an unusual level of scrutiny as she took office as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2019. Whereas most freshman legislators fly under the national radar while they settle in and learn the ropes, Ocasio-Cortez’s every move and utterance generated intense debate from her first day on the job. “She’s been described as both an inspiring and idealistic insurgent, and as a naïve and ill-informed newcomer—as the future of the Democratic party, and as a potential obstacle to its success,” said CBS News correspondent Anderson Cooper. “Few rookie members of Congress have put such bold ideas on the national agenda and stirred up so much controversy before they were sworn in” (Cooper 2019).

Ocasio-Cortez’s status as the best-known incoming legislator yielded many opportunities during her first weeks in office. She sat down for a full-length interview for the prime-time CBS News program 60 Minutes, for instance, and she was a featured speaker at a Women’s March event in New York City. Ocasio-Cortez also appeared at a ceremony honoring the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., where journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates praised her for upholding the civil rights leader’s legacy of radical activism. “People called Martin Luther King divisive in his time. We forget that he was wildly unpopular when he was advocating for the Civil Rights Act,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “And I think that what we need to really realize is that social movements are the moral compass—and should be the moral compass—of our politics” (Stracqualursi 2019).

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