Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' First Congressional Speech Told a Story

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

I often told my public speaking students that audiences love stories. 

First-year Democratic congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made her debut speech in the House of Representatives. Although she was not the only speaker that day, she got the most attention. She told a story. Her story showed that she was loyal to her district, deplored the partial government shutdown, supported an immigrant, and talked about about American government – all in three and a half minutes. Just by telling a story. Her language had a good rhetorical flourish. Nice job.

She began: “Madam Speaker, today I rise to tell the story of one of my constituents, Yahey Obeid,” She explained that Obeid, who immigrated from Yemen as a child, had dreamed of becoming a pilot. He worked as an air traffic controller and continued to work without pay during the shutdown. 

She gave his bio: “He has been a Federal employee for 14 years, has two children, and a mortgage for his home in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx.” The details showed that he was a person, like any native-born American, doing his best to raise a family.

She next showed why Obeid deserved his pay. She and Obeid had talked on the phone, she said. He had missed his paycheck. “He was telling me about how stressful his job is.... With weather changes, flight delays, staffing complexities, and a myriad of other issues, their days almost never go exactly to plan.”

Ocasio-Cortez’ story led to a moral conclusion: “It is terrifying to think that almost every single air traffic controller in the United States is currently distracted at work because they don’t know when their next paycheck is coming.” She mentioned New York’s high cost of living, with which she herself needed to cope. She noted that his family “cannot be reunified due to fears over the Muslim ban. Using parallel language, like President Donald Trump before her, Ocasio-Cortez continued: “His several-thousand-dollar-a-month Bronx mortgage is stressful enough. The anti-immigrant sentiment of this administration is stressful enough.” Her parallel phrasing added together to create a powerful effect: “is stressful enough…is stressful enough…is stressful enough.” Unlike President Trump, she said things that were accurate.

She went big: “The truth is this shutdown is about the erosion of American democracy and the subversion of our most basic governmental norms.” She noted that “It is not normal to hold 800,000 workers’ paychecks hostage. It is not normal to shut down the government when we don’t get what we want. It is not normal for public servants to run away and hide from the public that they serve. And it is certainly not normal to starve the people we serve for a proposal that is wildly unpopular among the American people.” Again, the parallel phrases added together: “It is not normal…It is not normal…It is not normal.” The audience can’t miss the real point: that what is happening is not normal.

Many conservatives say that we don’t really need our government's functions. As basic government services fall apart, every day of the partial shutdown proves them to be more and more wrong. Ocasio-Cortez struck the right issues and her story gave her argument a personal touch. She didn’t need to say that immigrants, government services, and hard work are good: her story proved those points for her. Stories are good. Speakers should tell stories.

People who speak effectively can make more difference than people who don't. Because she communicates so well, Ocasio-Cortez seems to have terrified conservatives. We’ll see how that goes, won’t we?

P.S.: Short speeches can be the best speeches. Roosevelt’s Pearl Harbor speech? The Gettysburg Address?

This little speech broke a C-Span record. 

Other speakers who used parallel language: William McKinley, Harrison Ford and Casey Gerald.

Here’s a transcript of Ocasio-Cortez’ speech. Scroll to pages H668-H669.

Photo: US Congress