AOC may have shifted to the center, but the Democrats aren’t ready for change

Earlier this month, 35-year-old AOC launched her bid to become the lead Democrat on the House oversight committee
– a crucial minority leadership position.

She was competing against 74-year-old Gerry Connolly, a longtime representative from Virginia who was next in line for the job.

Connolly, by the way, has esophagus cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Still, his allies have made it very clear they think he has the energy for the job.

“Gerry’s a young 74, cancer notwithstanding,” said Virginia Democrat Don Beyer.

As the recent drama with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows, it’s business as usual with the Democratic establishment.

Instead of trying to present a fresh new face to the world, they’re continuing to be a party of geriatric multimillionaires who are more concerned about pomp and procedure than actually winning elections.

The race between AOC and Connolly was broadly seen as not just representing a competition between two people but two different futures for the Democratic party.

AOC represented a generational shift:
a fresh young face and energetic communicator who represents a more anti-establishment spirit.
Connolly was business as usual for the Democrats.
For a while, it seemed like AOC had a real shot at winning -- but then 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi, recovering in hospital from hip-replacement surgery, reportedly made a bunch of phone calls and urged people to back Connolly.
On Tuesday, he won by a vote of 131-84.

“I think my colleagues were measuring their votes by who’s got experience, who is seasoned, who can be trusted, who’s capable and who’s got a record of productivity and I think that prevailed,”
Connolly told reporters after the vote.
And I think the Democrats seem to have absolutely no desire to change.
That isn’t true of AOC, by the way.
The representative has changed remarkably during her time in power.
She started in office in 2019 as a progressive firebrand but drifted increasingly to the center in a seeming attempt to appease the party leaders and advance her career.
“AOC Is Just a Regular Old Democrat Now,” New York Magazine proclaimed last year after she endorsed Joe Biden for a second term.
In an attempt to secure her leadership bid, Axios reported, she’d even promised to end her support for primary challengers to fellow House Democrats.

While AOC may not be the progressive force she once was, having her as the lead Democrat on the House oversight committee would still have represented a shift for the Democratic party.

Elevating her into a leadership position would have signaled a new start.

Instead, it looks like the Democrats are committed to repeating the same old strategies,
with the same aging politicians,
in the hope that, this time, they might work.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…