By now many people who are avid followers of contemporary politics and /or popular culture have either seen or heard about the latest news of recently elected freshman house representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing. The video shows the young and vibrant congresswoman showing off her lucid hoofing skills (for some of you younger readers, hoofing means dancing) while she was a student at Boston University. Suffice it to say, that girlfriend could move and her dancing skills are dope, to say the least!
For some reason, some nitwit conservative detractor of Ocasio-Cortez (and there are many), decided to take it upon their weirdo self, locate this video and tweet it on various avenues of the internet. Apparently, the assumption was that somehow such a picture would supposedly shame embarrass the very popular congresswoman. Laugh, please! LOL! Needless to say, the tweet did anything but. How do you spell BACKFIRED!? The tweet was attacked and roundly, soundly, viciously, and justifiably condemned by various corners of the political, social, and cultural left. On the contrary, it actually gained her even more fans and furthered endeared her among a large number of supporters that she already has.
Rather than go on the defensive, the seemingly ever ready, savvy Ocasio-Cortez responded in her usual proactive manner and went on elegant offense with her most recent dancing video. Hell! She even played the classic Edwin Starr song “WAR,” danced in the halls of congress, and promptly closed her office door! LOL! If that is not one of the biggest ways of saying get “f*ck you, get outta here with this BS!! I got work to do!” to her critics, I do not know what is.
The truth is that since the time the Bronx congresswoman won a stunning victory in the summer of 2018 over her much better well known and financed opponent, Ocasio-Cortez has been the subject of intense interest from wide swaths of the American public/electorate. While she has become a darling of the progressive left, she has been routinely vilified, crucified, and largely despised by many conservatives. To say that the conservative right is obsessed with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a major understatement! To right-wing conservatives, she is public enemy number one, Satan’s sister, the lady from hell, Jezebel, and so forth!
Irascible and “Black people are always causing problems” conservative radio host, Ben Shapiro seems to be in Ocasio-Cortez mode on a regular basis. He cannot let a week go by without commenting on her. In fact, his attention/fascination with the young millennial congressperson is so intense that he eagerly challenged her to a debate. She deftly and shrewdly declined his dubious request.
Shapiro is not alone. The National Review, The now-defunct Weekly Standard, Breitbart.com, and other mainstream conservative publications have written at length on her. Hell, some staff members probably have rabid nightmares about her. One thing is for certain, she is living rent-free in many of their minds and has deeply infected and infested herself deep into the darkest corners of their psyches.
There are a number of reasons that right-wing obsession/fascination with her is so rampant. For one thing, she is an avowed leftist politician from the progressive wing of the Democratic party. She is a woman of color and one of a very minute number of Latina women in congress. She is intelligent and she is super attractive. She is unapologetic and combative in a professional sense.
She is also the youngest person to be elected to congress at 29 years old. Young, Latina, unapologetic in her progressive politics, has supermodel looks and exudes an unabashed, refreshing level of confidence. She is the embodiment of the living nightmare for many right-wingers. She represents pretty much everything many of them dislike. For a first-term congressperson to have struck such fear into a sizable sector of a political movement is really interesting. She literally terrifies them!
Truth be told, I think there is a segment of conservative men who secretly have a crush on her and resent themselves for it. They are in denial about their sexual admiration for her. They disguise it. I am dead serious!
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez along with Rashida Tlaib, Jahana Hayes, Grace Merg, Ilhan Oman, Yvette Clarke, Ayanna Pressley, Lauren Underwood, Veronica Escobar, Brenda Lawrence, Sharice Davis, Debra Haaland and others were among a number of women of color to be elected to Congress in 2018. As of this moment, Ms. Ocasio- Cortez (although Rashida Tlaib is beginning to make some waves) seems to be the woman of color who is rocking the boat of the establishment.
She is brave. She is bold. She is sassy. She is competent. She is a multiple threat! Let’s hope that other sisters of color will begin to help her rock and row the boat as well.
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This post was previously published on Medium.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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Photo credit: istockphoto.com
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