Former President Barack Obama snubbed Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Aug. 1 by leaving her off of his endorsement list for the 2018 midterms.
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been jilted by President Obama,” Liz Peek wrote in a Fox News op-ed. “The former president recently announced 81 endorsements of candidates running in the midterm elections. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, toast of the progressive movement, did not make the cut.” (RELATED: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Wants To Tax The Rich And Slash The Military To Pay For Her Agenda)
Obama tweeted out a list of candidates he was backing this November and Ocasio-Cortez’s name was visibly absent.
Today I’m proud to endorse such a wide and impressive array of Democratic candidates – leaders as diverse, patriotic, and big-hearted as the America they’re running to represent: pic.twitter.com/gWzalQhFas
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 1, 2018
“Embracing the 28- year-old Latina supernova who is running for Congress to replace long-time Democrat leader Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th district carries risks,” Peek wrote.
“Already she has made gaffes that expose a tenuous (at best) understanding of important issues like unemployment and the history of capitalism; she pleads ignorance on foreign policy matters. She also ruffled feathers among House members whose caucus she hopes to join by suggesting that Crowley might try to undermine her chances.”
Peek said Obama held back his endorsement because her radical brand of liberalism is what drove Democrats and Independents to vote for Trump.
“Can she sell her agenda to the nation? No, and especially not to the blue collar workers, formerly reliable Democrat voters, who defected to elect President Trump,” she wrote. “Perhaps that’s why President Obama has, for now, withheld his endorsement. He, like other Dem leaders, may think the party is spiraling out of control, or at least out of the mainstream.”
Peek didn’t rule out an Obama endorsement for Ocasio-Cortez down the road, but said the Democrats are still struggling to find a message that resonates with voters.
“President Obama may yet come around to giving Ocasio-Cortez a boost. Democrats are struggling to find a message that can top record-low unemployment and rising wages,” she concluded. “The progressives making promises that cannot be kept may be their best bet and Ocasio-Cortez is emerging as their top spokesperson.”
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