Rep. Ocasio-Cortez does not want a Biden administration to be an Obama-era redux

New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she will support former Vice President Joe Biden as the Democratic party's presidential nominee, but she does not want him to simply revert to Obama-era governance.

"Progressives aren’t a monolith like every voting block isn’t a monolith," she told the New York Times in an interview published Monday. "But I also know, from a Latino perspective, I think we need a real plan to be better than what happened during his service with the Obama administration."

"In terms of deportations, in terms of apprehensions, I mean, even in terms of rhetoric. It was just a couple months ago that he told immigrant activists to vote for someone else. I want to see him get uncomfortable there. Putting “Dreamers” on a path to citizenship is great, but that’s a policy concession from 10 years ago," the progressive congresswoman said.

Ocasio-Cortez had been campaigning for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders before he bowed out of the presidential race last week, leaving Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee. Sanders on Monday endorsed Biden.

Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday finally issued an endorsement of his former vice president.

"I think people understand that there are limits to what Biden will do and that’s understandable," Ocasio-Cortez also said. "He didn’t run as a progressive candidate. But at the bare minimum, we should aspire to be better than what we have been before. And I just don’t know if this message of 'We’re going to go back to the way things were' is going to work for the people for who the way things were was really bad."

While she indicated that she will support the Democratic party's eventual nominee, she was less firm on whether she will issue an official endorsement and campaign for Biden, though she staunchly believes defeating President Trump is critically important.

When asked if she will definitely endorse Biden, she said, "I’ve always said that I will support the Democratic nominee. But unity is a process, and figuring out what that looks like is part of this whole conversation that I think Bernie and (Sen. Elizabeth) Warren and other folks are a part of as well.

"Beating Donald Trump is a matter of life or death for our communities. I think it’s a difference between making an argument for harm reduction, and making the argument for, there’s actually going to be progress made for us."