PLEASE, folks, stop with the frenzy to push Elizabeth Warren onto Hillary’s ticket! If that would happen, the Establishment would have another big win. If all the energy we have put into building Bernie’s campaign into a mass movement is to be continued on the outside--which by the way, is where we can do our best work right now--then we need Elizabeth with us to hold Hillary’s feet to the fire. Outside the administration she can continue to use her extraordinary energy to build the movement which we have kindled, by keeping up her withering critiques of corporate dominated policies, and creating a real counterbalance to the kind of policies we can expect from Clinton. With both Bernie and Elizabeth nipping at her heels, and commanding huge popular support outside the beltway, this should have a sobering effect on just where Hillary chooses to lead.
Inside the Executive Branch, all any VP is allowed to do is to sit on the sidelines and cheer-lead for whatever awful corporate-inspired policies the Administration brings forth. There’s absolutely no guarantee, no matter what might be promised now, that Elizabeth as VP would have a seat at the decision-making table in a Clinton administration. Look at how ineffective Biden was in reining in Obama’s militarism, or how Gore was unable to get Clinton to take climate change seriously. And many VPs who were put on the ticket only to mollify their constituencies, did not have the President’s ear at all (think: Lyndon Johnson), which is almost certainly what would happen with Elizabeth, since she and the Clinton’s are quite estranged from each other right now.
WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO MUZZLE our most potent progressive voice in that way? As VP both her speeches and her schedule of appearances would be vetted by the West Wing, and her freedom to keep adding fuel to our movement would be totally compromised by becoming Hillary’s yes-person. If Clinton takes this country in the same direction that her corporate and neo-liberal hawk allies intend her to, then, we need Elizabeth Warren on the outside as a potent threat to challenge Hillary in 2020. Bernie will be too old by then, and if Elizabeth is Hillary’s VP she is neutered to make such a challenge. Without a viable 2020 primary challenger in the wings, Hillary will not be looking over her shoulder, and appeasing the progressive wing of the party, as we must try to compel her to do by our strength.
When Bernie tossed his hat in the ring he said, and many of us agreed, that we were about building a populist grassroots movement to take back both the Democratic Party and our country. But a movement is not built on one election cycle alone. We can be proud that clearly our message is strong and resonating throughout the country, so we are well-positioned to keep it going. History is on our side, but, we need Elizabeth and her amazing populist rhetoric to keep the fires of paradigm shift flaming. Silencing her as Clinton’s VP would be our worst nightmare scenario, which is likely why Harry Reid, the retiring Senate Democratic Leader, and reigning protector of the status quo, is pushing so hard to put Elizabeth on Hillary’s ticket. Eliminating one of the Senate’s strongest progressive voices would fit his agenda perfectly. If Harry Reid wants this so much, shouldn’t we be reluctant to fall into line?