ADVERTISEMENT At the time, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “It may be shocking to some, but being someone’s daughter actually isn’t a career qualification …” Morgan’s reply: “Could be worse … Ivanka could have been a bartender 18 months ago.” Ocasio-Cortez was, indeed, a bartender 18 months earlier — before she defied all the odds and shook the pillars of politics by defeating ten-term, entrenched-establishment liberal Rep. Joe Crowley That is beyond impressive, by anyone’s standards. No one handed her that victory; nepotism and family wealth played no role in it. Quite simply, she earned it. In many ways — like her or not — Ocasio-Cortez is the personification of the American Dream. It is one of the reasons why she has become a political and cultural force in such an incredibly short time. Tens of millions of Americans see their lives and their daily struggles reflected back at them from her eyes.