Rep. Ilhan Omar's feistiness divides Democrats, delights Republicans
Therefore I don't criticize her for bringing up these issues. They need to be vigorously discussed and debated. But she's not doing her party any favors by bringing them up now, in the heat of Washington's polarized politics. As my late father might well have said of Omar's agitation, "Now she's done stopped preaching and gone to meddling."
But just as I was feeling impressed by Omar's courage in taking on these tough issues and a very popular ex-president, she was already trying to walk it all back, claiming that Politico had distorted her words.
"Exhibit A of how reporters distort words," she said in a since-deleted tweet about the interview. "I'm an Obama fan! I was saying how (President) Trump is different from Obama, and why we should focus on policy not politics."
Nice try, but even the two-minute recording of her interview that she included in her tweet confirmed that her quotes, though edited, were accurate.
The larger challenge for congressional Democrats is maintaining unity in messaging and purpose while their new crop of restless progressives challenges their moderate leadership in pushing the party's attention further to the left, endangering their appeal to crucial independent swing voters.
Omar compares that "squad" of progressive newcomers, who include Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, to the anti-tax tea party movement. Party moderates don't like that comparison, since the tea party contributed to constant gridlock in the Republican-controlled House on Obama's watch.
As both parties try in the upcoming presidential race to satisfy their base while appealing to the more pragmatic, moderate swing voters who bring victory, we can expect Omar and the rest of the squad to refine their language but probably not muzzle their attacks very much.
No wonder former Vice President Joe Biden, who has navigated those pragmatic waters well, has consistently been winning Democratic voters in polls without even declaring whether he's going to run or not. Sure, at 76 now, he'd be the oldest president yet. But, to reconcile his party's old guard and new rebels, seldom has experience seemed to count for so much.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
