Massachusetts Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has become something of a hero in progressive circles in Washington and as well as in the East Coast in recent years. A long-time consumer advocate, Warren has been very vocal in the Senate, defending citizens against nepotism and corruption in Washington and on Wall Street. She’s as tireless an advocate as you’ll find in politics, and her reputation among liberals has only grown in recent years.
Observers have been waiting impatiently for her to weigh in on the presidential campaign. Will she endorse Clinton or Sanders? Although she’s been careful not to make an official endorsement, it seemed obvious enough that Warren would back Sanders. They’re perfectly aligned on every issue of consequence, and a Warren endorsement of Clinton would seem unavoidably expedient.
Last week, on the sixth anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that somewhat made passage of the Wall Street money into the campaign trail, Warren gave a speech on the Senate, in which she made clear -- for those with ears to hear -- that she will not endorse Hillary Clinton. She spent most of her time outlining the steps Congress could take to purge dark money from our political process. But perhaps the most interesting takeaway is the not-so-subtle endorsement of Bernie Sanders.
While it’s not explicit, it’s impossible to miss the thematic overlap between Warren’s message and Sanders campaign. For instance, here are a few of the highlights from Warren’s speech:
“Washington works great for a handful of wealthy individuals and powerful corporations that manipulate the system to benefit themselves…It works great for the lobbyists and the lawyers who slither around Washington, day in and day out, but for everyone else, Washington’s not working so well. And if we don’t change, this rigged political game will break our country.”
Notice how indistinguishable these remarks are from what you hear in Sanders’s stump speeches. Warren’s agenda is Sanders’s platform, and this speech left no doubt about that. Even the specific phrases Warren uses, like “rigged political game,” mirror Bernie’s language.
The most revealing part of the speech was the end. Warren came as close as she has – or perhaps will – come to officially endorsing Sanders. “A new presidential election is upon us,” Warren said, “The first votes will be cast in Iowa in just eleven days. Anyone who shrugs and claims that change is just too hard has crawled into bed with the billionaires who want to run the country like some private club.”
The subtext here is clear: do not listen to those who say we have to be prudent and accept that fundamental problems like financial corruption or campaign finance can’t be solved in the short or medium term.
That Warren decided to reject this line of thinking in such clear terms suggests she is inching closer to a Sanders endorsement. And even if she stays out of the endorsement business, she made quite a statement in this speech. At the very least, we can say with confidence that a Clinton endorsement isn’t happening – that alone speaks volumes.
Source: Salon.com