AOC's response to whether she will run for president in 2028 proves divisive
Topics: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics, New York, Chicago
William Morgan
Featured Image Credit: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Topics: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Politics, New York, Chicago
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of just a few people in the Democratic Party who often appears at the top of polls asking who should be their next candidate for president, but she remains a divisive figure.
The 36-year-old democratic socialist was asked about whether she would run for the highest elected office in the land at a University of Chicago event recently and, as with almost anything she says, managed to infuriate one half of the country.
But while right wing tabloids like the Daily Mail blasted her answer as 'obnoxious' and 'stupid', for many who listened to what she said, her honest response was a refreshing change from that of the usual presidential hopeful.
Former Obama adviser David Axelrod posed the question to 'AOC', telling her 'a lot of people... would like you to run for president', to cheers from the crowd. But the New York congresswoman said she was thinking 'way bigger than that.'
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First, Ocasio-Cortez addressed why some sections of the media choose to present her as a presidential contender, saying: In this op-ed that Bezos paid for in The Washington Post, there was this line... about 'as a potential 2028 contender XYZ'. And in the context of that it was clear that there was a veiled threat.
"It was the elite saying 'if you want this job, you just stepped out of line,' and 'we want you to know where the real power is' - and it's in the modern day barons who own the Post and the algorithms."
But she said this opposition from tech oligarchs and billionaires fundamentally misunderstood what her end goal is, with AOC revealing that she wants more than just the tile of president.
Ocasio-Cortez continued: "What’s funny about that is they assume my ambition is positional. They assume my ambition is a title or a seat. My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country."
This was met with a roar of approval and applause from the University of Chicago crowd.
And she's sticking with the issue that she has stood on since joining the House of Representatives in a shock win over the Democratic establishment in 2019. AOC added: "Presidents come and go, elected officials come and go, single payer healthcare is forever.
What she said next was branded a 'wishlist of socialist policies' by the Daily Mail, for daring to declare: ''A living wage is forever. Workers' rights are forever. Women's rights. All of that."
Ocasio-Cortez, who worked in a bar before joining Congress, ended the answer by explaining why someone like her wasn't driven by a desire to simply sit behind the Resolute Desk.
She said: "When you aren't attached. When you haven't been like fantasizing about being this or that since the time you were seven years old, it is tremendously liberating.
"Because I get to wake up every day and say, 'How am I going to meet the moment?'"
Footage of her response was shared on X by Fox caused the typical avalanche of extremely misogynistic replies that didn't address the substance of her answer, but the international relations graduate's gender and perceived IQ.
But there were some who were brought round by her honesty, with one saying: "AOC has been talking like she has some sense lately and I actually like this response.
"Knowing you have positively bettered people's lives and circumstances is the highest accomplishment and no one can take it away from you."