Omar looking for 'gesture' from Biden that he understands importance of progressive issues

[RandySF]

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a prominent progressive lawmaker who had endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president, says she is still waiting for some indication from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden that he grasps what really matters to voters on the left.

“When it comes to our nominee — I of course will support — but I also know that it is going to be important for Vice President Biden to really understand that poll after poll after poll, people wanted 'Medicare for All' as a policy platform implemented in this country,” Omar said in an interview on Crooked Media’s “What a Day” podcast Tuesday.

In addition to Medicare for All, Omar said progressive voters are also seeking aggressive efforts to fight climate crisis and student debt.

“And so what I am looking for is a gesture from the vice president that he understands that these are the issues that are important to people,” she added.




https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/492671-omar-looking-for-gesture-from-biden-that-he-understands-importance-of

[redstatebluegirl]

1. I am beyond tired of all of this.

Holding the party hostage during a time when a pumpkin would be better than 4 more years of Trump.

[ooky]

11. Me too. nt

[Gothmog]

16. Same here

She is a first term congressperson with no real accomplishments

[Amishman]

18. yup, I appreciate what she represents, but she has a lot to learn

and also needs to recognize the political reality that an ultra progressive agenda isn't currently viable nationally.

[VOX]

34. Precisely. This is not the time to order everything on the menu.

And as much as I’d like to see a vibrant, progressive America, it won’t be on the menu for some time.

All the horrible management needs to be fired and replaced with a sane and fair-minded team of competent professionals, if this “restaurant” is to be kept afloat and accountable to its patrons.

First things first. Add-ons come later.

[vercetti2021]

2. She needs to worry about her own seat right now

I don't see her doing too well

[Boomerproud]

4. Yes.

The Squad has been a huge disappointment re getting real change in Congress.

[vercetti2021]

7. The problem with them is they are picking the fight with the wrong people

The Justice Democrat experiment was fun but it's just sad

[LoveMyCali]

49. But they have a cool nickname

and plenty of face time on TV so ...

[grantcart]

63. Primary

[Dream Girl]

3. She's a little too full of herself...

[GemDigger]

56. She thinks she is more important than she really is.

[LakeArenal]

5. I'm looking for Omar to be a hell of a lot more conciliatory.

The bs about M4. We “Establishment” Democrats including Joe want the same thing. The argument has always been HOW to get there.

How many effin times has Biden shown he is concerned for the same issues?

Move on Omar to a real argument.

[highplainsdem]

6. +1,000,000

[HarlanPepper]

10. It's not about winning, it's about ideology for some folks.

Nothing wrong with that in ordinary times but clearly she doesn't completely understand what the stakes are. If she did, ideological purity would not come first. Winning would.

[The Magistrate]

8. She Should, Sir, Make Some Gesture Towards Mr. Biden

To make clear she is aligned with the Party's general election campaign.

If there is one thing the primary campaign this year has established, it is that by even the loosest definitions, leftists and progressives total no more than a third of the Party's primary electorate. People need to recognize this and act accordingly. Continued attempts by a decidedly minority faction to posture as the 'real' Democrats, continued insistence by a minority faction that it must be courted by the majority, even placated, on pain of ensuring defeat for all by withholding of votes, simply must cease. It must cease not because leftists and progressives should have no voice in the Party, but because continuing in this manner guarantees leftists and progressives will have less and less voice in the Party each time this line is pressed in an election year.

Reliable voting blocks are courted. Unreliable voting blocs have to be worked around, and if put to the choice between an unreliable and a reliable voting bloc, the unreliable bloc will be put aside. Even when campaign strategists are faced with a choice between two none too reliable voting blocs, as in deciding whether to court middle of the road types or left and progressive types, it is the larger bloc that will be preferred over the smaller, and it is a cold fact of our nation's political life that left-center and center-left voters greatly outnumber leftists and progressives, both in our Party and in the voting public at large. Each time the left and progressive faction restates that it cannot be relied on without concessions far in excess of its actual voting strength, the Party must move further towards the center to make up the threatened deficit.

I personally tend to support Rep. Omar, and consider her a valuable voice in Congress. I have expressed such support in comments here on several occasions. It will be difficult to continue expressing support for her if she presses this nonesensical and self-defeating line as the general election campaign continues towards November.


"Defeat of a hated enemy is something to be for."

[HarlanPepper]

9. Joe should endorse her primary opponent.

Oh well. He'll have every other endorsement that matters in Minnesota. Omar's isn't needed at all.

[question everything]

55. Yes!

[Blue_true]

61. Joe won't do that.

But it is likely he won't have to. She has a pretty tough opponent and her record in her district has been paltry.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. She'd better start worrying about her own seat.

She's got two primary challengers, and as one of her constituents I'm giving them a good look. She has done a lousy job representing her district, which is her actual job - not telling the nominee what he has to do for her minority faction of the party.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. I think having two challengers works in her favor.

They can split the non-Omar vote and she can waltz through with 40% of the vote.

If she only had one challenger, it would behoove her to finance an additional challenger.

Maybe she should finance a third challenger, just to be safe.



.

[question everything]

62. The way it usually goes, there is a State Convention that endorses one candidate

and the others usually drop. Which, really, makes the subsequent primaries a rubber stamp.

This year obviously be different and, the last two governors (D) decided that the voters, not party activists should make the choice, both won the primaries and the office.

[MyOwnPeace]

38. I've read the same........

and a release from an opponent looked like a good piece of political work to me. I agree with others here - she needs to get into the fold and be a part of a united front against our common enemy. It is not a time to seek out a special "throne" upon which to stand.

[msongs]

13. she's no katie porter nt

[handmade34]

15. ...

[LakeArenal]

27. 👍🏻👍🏻

[UTUSN]

14. I got a gesture. *****Oh wait, we're supposed to be cynical & kowtow for votes.

[Hekate]

17. Hekate is looking for The Squad to make a "gesture" toward the majority of us Dems that is not...

...a middle finger.

The rest of us want Trump gone. Anyone who cannot grasp why that is by now is simply not someone worth talking to.

[Mr. Ected]

19. Timing is everything

And given that the presumptive nominee for her own party in the general election is and will be Joe Biden, she either needs to endorse him vis-a-vis Trump or keep her mouth shut. If not Joe, who?

This is a battle best left for January 2021 and beyond.

If we can't walk in lockstep on this very simple issue, then i know another party that can, and they're delighted that we're divided.

[MineralMan]

20. She had better "look to" her own district.

She may be looking for work after November, if she'd not careful.

And that's the truth, right there.

[DFW]

21. The first sentence seems to have a typo.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a prominent progressive lawmaker who had endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president, says she is still waiting for some indication from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden that he grasps what really matters to voters on the left.

Here, it is corrected:

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a prominent progressive lawmaker who had endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president, says she is still waiting for some indication from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden that he grasps what really matters to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).

[question everything]

64. Bravo!

[R B Garr]

22. Ugh, I've got a gesture right here.

So sick of this nonsense.

[mcar]

23. ...

[gratuitous]

24. Omar says she will "of course" support the nominee

She's looking for indications from that nominee that he's aware of what's important to her and her constituents. I see nothing wrong with that, other office holders say much the same thing every day. "I'm supporting Biden, of course, and I hope he's on board with X, one of the primary concerns in my state/district/city."

[LakeArenal]

30. Well if she hasn't seen "indications"

Then she refuses to see them.

Climate change? Come on Biden has spoken it a number of times.
Joe wants affordable healthcare for everyone whatever Label you want to attach to it.

Same with all the other issues that somehow she thinks only her Democrats have been in favor of.

[Hortensis]

25. Biden, and Obama, are speaking DIRECTLY to Sanders supporters,

individually and repeatedly, showing they respect and value both them and the importance of the issues they care about. Sanders himself is working with them and has become involved in setting up several task forces to tackle the problems we'll face on taking office.

Omar says this is what she wants. I suspect she's worried that Sanders' voters are listening.

[madaboutharry]

26. I have little patience for Prima Donnas.

I think "The Squad" may be overplaying their hand.

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

28. Her and AOC better worry about seats

Their own!

[johnp3907]

29. Voters chose Biden over Sanders.

So now Biden has to act like Sanders?

[DarthDem]

31. Rep. Omar is excellent at . . .

. . . making public pronouncements like this. What she does not excel at, as far as I can tell, is representing her constituents, which has led to her facing challenges from two credible primary opponents.

I acknowledge her concerns and believe that Joe Biden, who is decidedly a liberal on every issue, will be amply "progressive" enough for the Democratic party, and for Sen. Sanders, whose endorsement yesterday speaks volumes. If Biden wishes to discuss these matters with Rep. Omar, and if she handles those discussions in a constructive manner - and the latter is a big if as far as I'm concerned - then so be it.

[Demsrule86]

32. You are a junior rep who may very well lose your suit.Omar Biden doesn't have to do anything...in

fact, you should ask him for his endorsement...might help you.

[MyOwnPeace]

40. There 'ya go!

Says it all - loud and clear!

[thucythucy]

33. I would think that not allowing a wanna-be tyrant to continue in an office

for which he is clearly unfit, and this in the context of the worst set of crises--medical and economic--to face this nation since World War II would "really matter to voters on the left."

Just my opinion, you understand.

[calguy]

35. I can give her a gesture

it'll only take one finger. The middle one.

[fishwax]

37. "I of course will support"

[LizBeth]

39. I have never said this with another, but I do hope this one is primaried and loses.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

41. Since MN CD-5 is my district, I plan to participate in that effort.

[LizBeth]

42. Is it Minneoplis?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

44. Yes, Minneapolis and some of the close-in suburbs.

[LizBeth]

46. I have two people there. I havent had conversation or discussion, but it seems like someone is

running against Omar. When is the race and is there a chance of unseating her?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

47. Aug. 11. Both challengers have solid credentials. She could lose.

[LizBeth]

48. Ok. Thank you. Do you all have mail in?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

50. Absentee, no excuses required.

[LizBeth]

51. Excellent. Thank you. I looked at moving there last year, but decided to stay here. It is an

awesome city.

[aidbo]

43. I find the disdain for the left of the party that is so prevalent on this website very distasteful.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

45. I find congresspeople who aren't doing their jobs very distasteful.

Omar is almost never around to meet with constituents, and she spends more time grandstanding than she does actually doing the work her job entails. She also has an unfortunate knack for making herself unnecessarily controversial, and therefore ineffective. Refusing to condemn the Armenian genocide was stupid, pointless and unforgivable.

[Wounded Bear]

53. It's a big tent party, but the far left wing is not the tallest pole right now.

Democracy depends on the side that loses an election not sabotaging the results of it. Republicans have not learned that lesson, will the "progressive wing" of the Democratic party learn it?

[question everything]

52. From an op-ed in Omar's town newspaper"

Yes, progressives voting third party would most likely hand Trump the election, but many lefties see that as a way of telling the DNC, “Hey! You need to earn our vote! You didn’t give us any policy concessions to vote on and this is the result.”

https://www.startribune.com/sanders-supporters-may-send-unforgettable-message-in-november/569610812/

===

I did not read it, it was the side comment but my initial reaction was F**k you! You are not owed anything. All you want is to destroy the party. You enjoy whatever the House accomplished and, guess what, it was flipped by moderates.

[Submariner]

54. She better learn to understand that the separation of church and state is important to the left

and when she learns that, she can then voice how she thinks Biden should conduct himself.

[GemDigger]

57. Maybe it is she who should reach out to him.

Considering what her job is and what his upcoming job will be, he shouldn't have to PUBLICLY kiss anyones ass and clearly that is what she wants. (As does another)

[Indykatie]

58. AOC Has Settled Down With Her Antics and Demands and Now Omar May Try to Fill That Void

If the far left think they will get support for M4ALL as a "gesture" they will be sadly disappointed. I don't know of these polls with Americans screaming for M4ALL. It has support among Dems but no where near the level it would need for passage. The Unions aren't supportive in large numbers and until that changes I don't see Biden and Dem leadership having any serious dialogue.

[BGBD]

59. Omar

would serve us best just not talking.

I'm sure Biden doesn't want her near his campaign. Her boycotting Israel movement is a sure way to lose Florida.

[Blue_true]

60. Honestly, there is a pretty large chance that she won't be coming back to

Congress after January 2021. She has a tough democratic primary opponent. The republican is a sick joke.

[npk]

65. Dear God can we get the man elected first before we put his feet in the fire

Biden, as part of the Obama administration, had this country going in the right direction before Agent Orange took over. Those Obama years, while I realize not perfect for everyone, was light years ahead of the path this country is on right now. So please let's get Biden elected first and then give him at least a year before we start passing judgement that he is not progressive enough.