So the Ocasio-Cortez, “ready for Congress,” debate. First, nobody is prepared for Congress. From a policy perspective, it’s literally impossible. Nobody is “expert” or even “informed” on all the issues Congress considers.
In a given month, Congress could and has debated national defense policy, funding science research agencies, helium reserves at hospitals, collateralized debt obligations, fisheries management, regulations on mental illness medication, veteran legal rights, & much, much more.
Point being, nobody has an educated opinion on every issue that comes before Congress. Members specialize in policy niches, often from their committee assignments, lean heavily on staff, and learn a lot as they go.
There’s no “knowledge requirement,” for Congress, which is made obvious to anyone observing Congress for more than 5 minutes, not should there be. Representation isn’t always about knowing the best policy. It’s about gauging constituents, interests, and politics.
Representatives offering political responses to policy questions often frustrates wonks but is also a perfect encapsulation of the collision of these worlds. Members are political experts, not policy experts.
Paul Douglas, former Senator from Illinois (D), Columbia PhD and Harvard economist, used to say he had worked with the smartest economists in the world but the smartest people he ever met were Chicago aldermen.
You don’t need policy chops to be a good representative. But if you want to be a policy leader while in Congress there are pitfalls to obvious on-the-record errors in policy analysis.
Many members are often ridiculed for lack of policy knowledge. So yes, while many members make similar and worse mistakes than AOC answering policy questions, their policy reputation is either unimpressive or hurt.
Paul Ryan’s reputation as a “policy wonk,” was badly damaged following his AHCA healthcare press conference. Both parties routinely ridicule members for not understanding facts, science, or economics, or for openly undermining actual policy experts like CBO.
So while lack of policy expertise does not always differentiate new from veteran members, it can have legitimacy consequences for an ambitious member seeking higher office or wanting to reorient a party’s platform.
Veteran members often recognize policy weaknesses and play to their political strengths, often frustrating policy wonks across the country on a routine basis.
This gaffe won’t sink a new member like AOC at all. But continued policy gaffes could undermine her ambitions.
This gaffe won’t sink a new member like AOC at all. But continued policy gaffes could undermine her ambitions.
