Democrats will preach — and doubtless experience — unity at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where a revitalized party united behind the surging candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris will try to focus almost exclusively on the future.
Enthusiasm and a visible path to victory — which suddenly seems in reach with Joe Biden‘s stepping aside — are the surest ways to quiet rancor between same-party factions holding opposing beliefs. And amidst the current unbridled enthusiasm for Harris among Democrats, the only serious spoiler lurking on the tracks of the Harris train is the far-left progressive wing of her party, a group deeply at odds with U.S.-Israel policy and its impact on the tragic situation in Gaza.
U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is expected to use part of her time at the podium in Chicago to acknowledge (and concur with) this resistance, while also working to tame the far-left wing– of which she is a member — and present a reasoned alternative to the all-or-nothing approach of the Israel-Gaza protesters who say they can’t abide (or vote for) a Democratic ticket that backs Israel’s war conduct.
.@AOC speaking at the DNC is basically the only chance to talk about the genocide in gaza beyond meaningless platitudes. i can't think of anything more important for a speaker to focus on
— aaron from queens 🇵🇸 (@aaronnarraph) August 19, 2024
AOC takes the stage on Monday night at a convention where the unity theme will be challenged outside by numerous “free Palestine” protests, resistance that in other circumstances the Congresswoman might even be a part of.
What’s fortunate for Harris — and less fortunate for the “uncommitted” movement that used their primary votes to send an anti-Israel message to the Biden-Harris administration — is that the protesters really have no place else to go.
In a binary choice between Harris and Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, Harris is the only viable option for the left no matter how angry they are over the current administration’s Israel support.
AOC is charged with making the case that with a Harris win, the resistance get seats at the table where future Israel policy is decided — and that if their current dissent, however righteous, somehow aids and abets Trump’s electoral chances, the result will be a self-inflicted wound very much to Gaza’s long-term detriment.
Ocasio-Cortez will be asking for patience and a consideration of the complexities involved in the conflict. The challenge is tasking it of a group that does not see the situation as complex, but rather as a straightforward case of genocide in which the U.S. is criminally implicated.
As such, the Congresswoman has the very hard job — and early on in the convention — of taming, though not silencing, the dissenters in the interest of unity. Her speech will reveal — for better or worse — her talent for speaking beyond her usual audience. It may also reveal whether Harris’s honeymoon, so far little slowed by the Gaza war, is destined to last.
Below is AOC, sowing the seeds of her unity and diversity speech, lauding the expression of and bravery behind dissent while preaching the importance of keeping the larger goals in mind — i.e., not missing the forest for the trees.
.@AOC tells CBS Mornings that VP Kamala Harris picked "a uniter" as her running mate, “not just for the Democratic Party, but for the United States.”
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) August 7, 2024
The congresswoman shares what Governor Tim Walz brings to the Democratic ticket. pic.twitter.com/XSNMxq8M2v
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