RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is trying to pull off a political feat for the ages: bury a chapter of left-wing politics that seemed like a good idea to many liberals at the time — but not so much anymore.
Why it matters: The country's most prominent democratic socialist is essentially seeking a mulligan for candidates who embraced policies like defunding the police, saying candidates should be judged on their current platforms.
But that will be a tough sell with moderate Democrats, let alone Republicans, in competitive races outside of blue bastions.
Driving the news: In an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, AOC was asked about some of the positions democratic socialists took around 2020. They were, she said, a product of the time.
"Woke 1 was crazy," she laughed, quoting a politician-friend. "And I think that what's important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now."
Though policy discussions around the start of the pandemic were "fruitful" given the dire straits the country was in, the "rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today," she added.
Flashback: One high-profile candidate already tried to wipe her 2020 record clean, to no avail: Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.
During her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, Harris endorsed taxpayer-funded, medically necessary gender transition surgeries for federal inmates; decriminalizing border crossings; and banning plastic straws, among other things.
Four years later, when she replaced President Biden on the ballot, Harris tried to reposition herself as a more traditional center-left candidate. But the Trump campaign made sure voters didn't forget the past.
The other side: The problem with dismissing 2020 leftist politics as crazy in hindsight is there were plenty of Democrats who warned in real time it was crazy.
That list was topped by Joe Biden, who went on to win the primary and then the presidency on a center-left platform.
What they're saying: "AOC is a savvy politician. It's good she recognizes that positions she and others took on police in 2020 were bad substantively, and really bad politically," said Matt Bennett, a cofounder of the centrist Democratic group Third Way. "The problem is that some people running now are running on ideas that are even worse."
He mentioned Wisconsin gubernatorial hopeful Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist who once called for eliminating the police as well as prisons, and even proposed doing away with Thanksgiving — all ideas she has since walked back.
Third Way announced last week a $15 million effort to wage "war" on the democratic socialist wing of the party.
The big picture: AOC's "Woke 1 was crazy" explanation looks like an attempt to redefine democratic socialism — distancing it from cultural and social positions that are hard to defend now and moving toward a populist economic agenda with broader appeal.
Her own political future — whether it's a Senate run or a presidential campaign in 2028 — could be the ultimate test of that effort.
The bottom line: There's no statute of limitations on unpopular political stands.
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