Endorse This

There is new kerfuffle over DSA’s posture regarding Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Here is the latest statement from the National Political Committee (NPC). Judge for yourself, but I think it’s dumb on multiple levels.

A quick digression: I would urge readers to avoid propaganda on this subject from such outlets as Jewish Insider. The fact is that the DSA dis-endorsement is confined to the dubious NPC and some overheated chapters, not to the DSA members on the ground in New York who have been her supporters. There should be no doubt that a national poll of DSA members, if the NPC permitted one, would reveal massive support for an endorsement.

Aside from the details, there are two levels of dumb. One is the notion that AOC needs or would benefit from a DSA endorsement. Two is the presumptuousness of thinking she should be confronted with demands — conditions for that meaningless endorsement. As I’ve said before, any such dis-endorsement means more for the way people think about DSA than AOC, and not in a good way. NPC statements have screwed the pooch in so many ways that its endorsements are worthless, if not a negative influence on a politician’s prospects.

Regarding the specifics, opposing all funding for Israel would make participating in the House Democrats’ budget work impossible. AOC nor any other member of The Squad is in any position to dictate budget terms. At best they can do useful things on the margins, if they play ball on the big picture. If they play hold-out, they get nothing. The big picture inevitably will include some money, by hook or crook, for Israel.

Then there is the demand for AOC to participate in DSA’s “Federal Socialists in Office Committee,” which as best as I can determine presently has a membership of exactly zero. After the Bowman fiasco, it’s hard to imagine any ambitious politician in a position to run for Congress participating in a DSA committee.

About a demand to reject any criminalization of anti-Zionism and the effed up IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, I am totally in favor. Though I imagine with respect to AOC it is already accepted. For those unfamiliar with this issue, I recommend consulting the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism. I’ve already mentioned DSA is in no position, either political or moral, to issue demands of others with respect to anti-Semitism. Its own record is too sketchy on that front.

Finally there is the demand to endorse the BDS movement. I have no ethical problem with BDS, especially after seeing this horrific video of a recent Israeli bombing of a school in Gaza. Its tactical merits are debatable. In the U.S. there are fewer than a half-dozen Congressional districts where endorsement of BDS would not absolutely block any candidate from electoral success.

There is more than one way to skin the BDS cat, such as confining a boycott to anything linked to settlements or the West Bank, or to Israeli businesses and their products, but I’m afraid the overall impression of rejecting everything Israeli, which inevitably carries anti-Semitic overtones, is very difficult to overcome. I’m especially uncomfortable with rejecting any contacts with academics or activists.

In a similar vein, the statement also refers critically to AOC participating in a dialog with Jews identified as Zionists. To the contrary, there are few things more advisable than engaging such folks in dialog. I go back to the distinction between anti-Zionism and “anti-Zionistism.” I’m afraid the ham-handed rhetoric typically associated with the latter is anti-Semitic adjacent. Unkosher.

Unfortunately for DSA (not for AOC), all of these considerations will probably get lost in the big picture of DSA crapping on the most popular progressive politician in the U.S. (after Bernie) over her excessive indulgence of The Jews. It is not something DSA will easily survive. Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party are looking better and better.