"Woke 1 was crazy": AOC seeks do-over on 2020-era rhetoric

Rep.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is trying to pull off a political feat for the ages: bury a chapter of left-wing politics that seemed like a good idea to many liberals at the time — but not so much anymore.

Why it matters: The country's most prominent democratic socialist is essentially seeking a mulligan for candidates who embraced policies like defunding the police, saying candidates should be judged on their current platforms.

But that will be a tough sell with moderate Democrats, let alone Republicans, in competitive races outside of blue bastions.

Driving the news: In an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, AOC was asked about some of the positions democratic socialists took around 2020.

They were, she said, a product of the time.

"Woke 1 was crazy," she laughed, quoting a politician-friend.

"And I think that what's important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now." Though policy discussions around the start of the pandemic were "fruitful" given the dire straits the country was in, the "rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today," she added.

Flashback: One high-profile candidate already tried to wipe her 2020 record clean, to no avail: Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.

During her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, Harris endorsed taxpayer-funded, medically necessary gender transition surgeries for federal inmates; decriminalizing border crossings; and banning plastic straws, among other things.

Four years later, when she replaced President Biden on the ballot, Harris tried to reposition herself as a more traditional center-left candidate.

But the Trump campaign made sure voters didn't forget the past.

The other side: The problem with dismissing 2020 leftist politics as crazy in hindsight is there were plenty of Democrats who warned in real time it was crazy.

That list was topped by Joe Biden, who went on to win the primary and then the presidency on a center-left platform.