Yves Smith is none too keen on a Warren Senate run. In her ever provocative way, she wrote as much a week ago, and it's been stuck in my craw ever since. Aside from horse race odds and stuff that has no bearing whatsoever, because we can't know the political landscape of a Warren run without her announcing one, what Yves reallly cares about is this:
If Warren thinks she will need to have “plenty of blood and teeth left on the floor,” the Senate is no place for her.
Essentially since the Senate is the CLASSIC old boys' club of money and influence, what could one teeny tiny little progressive Senator do in there?
Running for Senate means Warren has implicitly agreed to support Obama on:
1. Balancing the budget on the backs of middle class families, in particular cutting Social Security and Medicare
2. Standing with Obama on his bank friendly policies, such as:
– Not prosecuting the banks for fraud and mortgage abuses
– Remaining silent as the CFPB is neutered (she can’t do her promise “blood and teeth on the floor” routine from within the Senate; she’d be restricted to letters asking obnoxious pointed questions in letters and hearings)
3. Supporting the war in Libya
4. Refusing to take unemployment seriously
5. Continuing the policies of extraordinary rendition and torture, which put US soldiers at risk and damages US credibility around the world
Yves is not entirely wrong on any of this, but when you consider the context, her logic dissolves. First, Warren won't need to agree with Obama on any of that clap. She will run not on the President's accomplishments but the Republicans' terrible record. This is the advantage of being a newbie, and she'll use it. She'll talk as only she can about the waning middle class. And she'll get elected, because we're not going to let her lose.
True, once elected, the Senate is where good bills go to die. The Senator's rhetoric takes on some of that deathliness eventually.
But I think Warren would have a major impact in the Senate. I can't think of the last real academic who made it there, and the committees she could chair would be stellar. A run for higher office would even be in the realm of possibilities, though it's a little soon to start thinking of 2016.
She would also help Obama in an election when he's going to desperately need it, And likewise he could get her elected with the coat tail effect in Massachusetts no problem. The fact that she's even running is a strong sign that Obama has promised her his backing.
Above all, I think whether she does much to change the Senate is wildly missing the point on this one. By electing Warren to the Senate, Massachusetts would be sending a message to the world, that the Sherif was going to come into her own one way or another. If they block her nomination, we'll make her part of the nominating committee. It's the best message that we can send at this point.
And I think that the main reason she's running, and this to me is the most inspiring of all, is that she gets that.
So no more doubts; let's make this happen.
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