Rep. Ilhan Omar's feistiness divides Democrats, delights Republicans

W.C. Fields' famous line, "I am free of all prejudices; I hate everyone equally," sounded like a new motto for Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota's rising Democratic firebrand, when she took a verbal poke at, of all people, former President Barack Obama.

Omar, the first Somali-American in Congress, became the media's flavor of the week for comments she made about U.S. policy toward Israel that even some Democrats called anti-Semitic for her use of old anti-Jewish stereotypes -- comments for which she apologized.

As the controversy divided Democrats and, therefore, delighted Republicans, the House Democratic majority dealt with the dust-up by passing a generic resolution condemning bigotry and hatred of almost all sorts.

But Omar was not finished expressing bold and audacious statements, even against one of her own party's most popular ex-presidents.

In a sit-down interview with Tim Alberta, Politico's chief political correspondent, Omar stung Obama's policies on drones and deportations, mocked his "pretty face" and scoffed at his "hope" and "change" agenda as an attractive mirage.

"We can't be only upset with (President Donald) Trump," she said. "His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was.

"And that's not what we should be looking for anymore," she continued. "We don't want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile."

She cited the "caging of kids" at the Mexican border and the armed "droning of countries around the world" on Obama's watch -- and argued that Obama wasn't much different from Trump.

In fact, Obama's policies were different from Trump's, mainly in magnitude. When photos turned up last summer of migrant children sleeping in cages in 2014, former Obama officials pointed out that they were children who had arrived at the border unaccompanied by adults and were waiting to be assigned to families in the U.S.

As for Obama's drone policy, I appreciate that her sentiments are undoubtedly influenced by her horrific experience as a Somali refugee for four years as a child. My view is similarly colored by my experience as a Vietnam-era draftee who recognizes the appeal of sending a flying robot rather than human soldiers into combat. I therefore advocate close oversight and accountability to avoid hitting innocent civilians, a goal that we too often have tragically failed to achieve.

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.

========

(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)