Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and two-time failed presidential Hillary Clinton have diverged this week on the issue of criticizing President Joe Biden for failing to “protect women’s right to have an abortion.”
While establishment Democrats and the radical left agree on many policies, the two sides disagree on political tactics. Clinton, who has been in politics for decades, is a part of the old guard and has not yet caught up with Ocasio-Cortez’s strongarm tactics.
Where Ocasio-Cortez is willing to slam Biden for failing to “protect” the alleged “right to abortion,” Clinton is not. “I don’t understand the criticism,” Clinton told CBS’s Gayle King on Tuesday. “The strategy is ‘elect more Democrats.’”
Hillary’s unwillingness to criticize Biden is contrasted with Ocasio-Cortez’s Wednesday night tweet, in which she slammed Biden for “doing nothing” to protect abortion, which she claimed is a “destructive choice” and a plan of fear.
“Showing strength and protecting the right to choose is **unifying.** Doing something shows people their vote is worth it and translates to change,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Doing nothing is catastrophic. It is not a neutral choice. It’s the destructive choice.”
“It’s time to be brave. Fear is not a plan,” she added:
Showing strength and protecting the right to choose is **unifying.**
Doing something shows people their vote is worth it and translates to change.
Doing nothing is catastrophic. It is not a neutral choice. It’s the destructive choice.
It’s time to be brave. Fear is not a plan. https://t.co/3OWi32goug
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 29, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez is not alone in her quest to hold Biden acceptable to the far-left. “More than 30 Senate Democrats signed a letter to Biden, urging him to ‘fight back,’ take ‘bold action’ and ‘lead a national response to this devastating decision’ after the court overturned the right to abortion,” Reuters reported.
The radical left seems to be winning the battle. On Thursday, Biden stated he supports the Senate doing away with the 60-vote filibuster threshold to codify abortion on the federal level, a move that many Democrats support.
But Biden’s support may not be enough to convince establishment Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), who opposed codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law in May, which stymied the radical Democrats’ effort:
Manchin tells reporters he will vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act this afternoon pic.twitter.com/sOvTIjxDwl
— Alan He (@alanhe) May 11, 2022
Just minutes after Biden announced he supported terminating the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade, Ocasio-Cortez kept the pressure on him.
The “carveout is not enough,” she claimed, “for the sake of our planet.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter and Gettr @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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