The Squad shakes up the Washington establishment -- on both sides of the aisle
SAN DIEGO -- The Squad is making politics in America great again. And a lot more fun.
Major props to Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar for keeping it real. They speak their mind, and they stand their ground. The Squad is always on a war footing, ready to respond to criticism. The freshmen break rules, defy convention, and skewer sacred cows. And they don't curtsy to leadership.
They're pushing the United States to be better, but also the Democratic Party. It's easy for liberals to claim they support diversity, especially when acting superior to conservatives. But it can be harder to put up with all that diversity entails. The Squad make clear that -- while they have to work alongside Democratic House leaders, they don't take orders from them.
This is what diversity looks like. Democrats ought to treat the Squad with more respect -- even when the insurgents offer a different view, or challenge the hierarchy. Most of all, the Squad need not put up with condescending cracks from anyone who wants to diminish their achievements.
And that's true across party lines, whether those attacks are coming from President Trump or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi stumbled first. Last week, according to media reports, the speaker scolded progressives -- including members of the Squad -- in a closed-door meeting. She supposedly told them not to air their grievances and blast colleagues on Twitter. She also talked down to the freshmen, pointing out that tweets are not power and reminding them that they only have four votes.
Recall Pelosi's rude comments to CBS' "60 Minutes" in April. Asked about "AOC and her group," Pelosi snarked: "That's like five people." Pointing to a coffee table, she said: "This glass of water would win with a 'D' next to its name in those districts."
One hopes that the experience of dealing with four women of color, and members of Congress, who aren't afraid to challenge her has taught Pelosi how hard it is to walk it like you talk it when it comes to race, tolerance and progressivism.
Just a few weeks ago, Pelosi defensively told a reporter that she was a "progressive." But when progressives squared off against moderates over the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, Pelosi sided with the latter.
It is also not a good look for the Speaker to single out a group of "women of color" for scoldings. Ocasio-Cortez told The Washington Post: "But the persistent singling out ... it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful ... the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color."
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