Leading left-wing politicians including Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, and, most recently, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have already endorsed Joe Biden — even though primary voters haven’t yet had their say and most Democrats in polls don’t even want him to run.
by Ben Burgis, Jacobin
A few days ago, democratic socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) became the latest in a string of prominent progressive politicians to endorse Joe Biden’s bid for reelection. One of her fellow “Squad” members, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, endorsed Biden almost a month ago when AOC wasn’t quite ready to join her. Bernie Sanders endorsed him way back in April.
But why should any of them endorse Biden — especially right now? It would be one thing if this were late 2024 and the country were facing an imminent choice between Biden and Donald Trump (or Biden and Ron DeSantis) and there was a real danger that the greater evil would win. Right now, though, we’re several months away from the first primaries.
Socialist politicians should be articulating a clear alternative to the business-as-usual centrism of Biden and other leading Democrats. That’s not all they should be doing, of course. They should also work toward concrete reforms that will make life better for working-class people in the here and now, and admittedly these goals are sometimes in tension. But it’s hard to see a long-term way forward for the Left that doesn’t start with being very clear about the fact that leftists and centrists aren’t on the same team.
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