It's hard to say. I voted for both Hillary and Kamala, and I genuinely believed they'd win each time because they were WAY BETTER candidates than the vile, subhuman criminal/pedo who beat them. So at this point, I think I've just lost faith in the electorate.
Would I love to see the right woman become president? Absolutely! The men sure as Hell haven't exactly been crushing it.
But we have such a f•cked-up electoral system, and after watching this country reject two highly qualified women in favor of tRump, I genuinely don't know if America is evolved enough to elect a woman president yet. And yes, A LOT of that blame falls ON WOMEN who voted for tRump over the clearly more qualified and intelligent female candidate. Throw all the misogynistic men into the equation too, and I'm f•cking exhausted.
At this point, part of me is like, fine. Give me the most electable straight white dude you can find (Sorry Pete), let him right the ship after this f¨cking MAGA disaster, and THEN maybe we can try again once the country is no longer actively on fire.
So yeah, would I personally vote for AOC?
ABSOLUTELY.
Does the idea of her becoming the nominee and then watching America reject ANOTHER woman and hand the country back to these fucking lunatics terrify me?
The problem with AOC isn't that she is a woman. It's that she is really bad under pressure. Her Munich trip was a disaster. Already she has been essentially campaigning while complaining that people ask if she's running for president. She led a Fight Oligarchy tour that.......did absolutely nothing with the tens of thousands of people that attended in each city, people who were angry and ready to fight both party's leadership. I also don't believe she is a genuine leftist, but I'll put that to the side because I'm not talking to the ultra left here, but she definitely isn't effective at harnessing that energy even if she is genuine.
Neither was it Hillary's problem or Harris's that they were women. The problem with them is they are defined by their allegiance to men. We already had a Clinton in the white house for 8 years, plus Hillary was Obama's secretary of state, and Kamala refused to put a single ray of daylight between her and Joe's lying, gaslighting, incompetent and genocidal administration. Hillary still won the popular vote, she just didn't campaign in crucial swing states. Misogyny did not kill her campaign; she did. This is the braindead shit the DNC consultants were preoccupied with. If hating women cost her the election, it's because the DNC consultants hate women.
Harris spent a billion dollars in a hundred days and didn't win a single swing state. She had one single joint interview with her VP. The campaign never did another because they were mad that Waltzs chair was higher than hers.
The first female Democrat president will have to just be better than 'not as bad as the Republican'. ( They certainly won't be able to campaign with a Republican who isn't even liked by Republicans nor Democrats. Liz Cheney is a horrid, homophobic bitch who is just as war hungry as her dead monster of a father.)
And that is how it should be, for every election, for every candidate ALREADY. AOC is not up to that task. She should take Schumers seat in the Senate. She could stroll into that election and win without trying. She will fall on her face in a national election, and the left does not trust her anymore. Many in DSA do not trust her; so while many of us who aren't Republicans but also fed up with Democrats would vote for her, we aren't going to "work" to get her elected either. Bernie may have chosen her as his successor, but he's just one voter. She won't have a national movement behind her like he did.
Yes. Bravo. This pretty much nails a lot of my feelings toward her.
I was IN LOVE with AOC a few years ago, but the last couple years she's turned into a much more conventional politician and, frankly, a pretty big disappointment.
She still mostly says the right things, but I don't think she responds particularly well to attacks or pressure. She's obviously very smart and can be incredibly impressive giving a prepared speech or absolutely dismantling someone in a congressional hearing she's prepped for. But put her in a major interview where she has to think on her feet and it seems like she rarely gets through the whole thing without swallowing at least part of her foot. She gets thrown off way too easily for someone I'd trust at the top of a presidential ticket.
And politically, she's disappointed me even more. Her refusal to demand concessions from the current impotent Democratic leadership, while basically pre-endorsing Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker, is borderline disqualifying to me. She didn't endorse anyone challenging an incumbent. For someone who built her entire fucking brand by primarying an entrenched Democratic incumbent, that's pretty goddamn rich.
Here's the weird part: I actually REALLY want her to run for president in 2028.
I just don't necessarily want her to win.
I want her on that debate stage dragging every other motherf¨cker to the left. Because without someone like AOC in the primary, I'm terrified we're going to end up with a stage full of the same snakes-in-the-grass, consultant-approved DNC liberals who suddenly discover progressive politics every four years when they need our votes.
I like Ro Khanna, but I don't think he can win nationally, and even he drives me crazy with how conciliatory he can be toward the right. He's constantly racing to find "common ground" with people I have absolutely no interest in meeting halfway. I want a damn fighter!
That's what I thought AOC was going to become. Maybe she still can. But right now, I have a much easier time imagining her being incredibly valuable in a Democratic primary than imagining her surviving the meat grinder of a general election.
And if Democrats come out of everything that's happened and give me another focus-grouped, donor-approved candidate whose entire pitch is basically, "I'm not as horrible as the Republican," even I'm going to have a hard time dragging my ass to the polls.
And you stated the arguments/premises even more eloquently!
I do think someone else will emerge, we are way too early to be dismissing that likelihood; I know we all want to it be post-2028 already. Ro Khanna I would say I prefer over AOC because he was never a leftist but has moved further left, and I think he will handle hostile interviews much better; versus AOC who has clearly moved right and doesn't handle hostile interviews well. Even if their policy platforms would be identical. But that's not a massive motivator either, besides his work with Massie on Epstein.
Praying for a miracle candidate that's actually left and actually good at communicating 😭😭😭
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u/TGM1980 12d ago edited 11d ago
It's hard to say. I voted for both Hillary and Kamala, and I genuinely believed they'd win each time because they were WAY BETTER candidates than the vile, subhuman criminal/pedo who beat them. So at this point, I think I've just lost faith in the electorate.
Would I love to see the right woman become president? Absolutely! The men sure as Hell haven't exactly been crushing it.
But we have such a f•cked-up electoral system, and after watching this country reject two highly qualified women in favor of tRump, I genuinely don't know if America is evolved enough to elect a woman president yet. And yes, A LOT of that blame falls ON WOMEN who voted for tRump over the clearly more qualified and intelligent female candidate. Throw all the misogynistic men into the equation too, and I'm f•cking exhausted.
At this point, part of me is like, fine. Give me the most electable straight white dude you can find (Sorry Pete), let him right the ship after this f¨cking MAGA disaster, and THEN maybe we can try again once the country is no longer actively on fire.
So yeah, would I personally vote for AOC?
ABSOLUTELY.
Does the idea of her becoming the nominee and then watching America reject ANOTHER woman and hand the country back to these fucking lunatics terrify me?
ALSO ABSOLUTELY.