Do Americans See the Problems Elizabeth Warren Aims to Solve?

This Washington Post analysis of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign captures some of the key possibilities and frustrations of her candidacy, both in terms of its substance but also in the all-important realm of media coverage.  The good news is that the article acknowledges that Warren, beyond the other Democratic candidates, articulates a comprehensive vision backed up by the policy ideas to get there.  The current economic and political order does not serve the interests of ordinary Americans, due to the out-sized power of corporations and electoral corruption; this needs to be fixed, and here are the ways to fix it.  The crux of the Post’s analysis is the question of whether America is ready to listen to her ideas, and it posits a basic tension between an inspiring vision and a more policy-oriented (i.e., Warren’s) campaign.

I think the answer to whether Warren’s candidacy will gather momentum or not lies in how deep a crisis Americans feel we’re in.  If fundamental change feels necessary, then Warren’s bid will be seen as having found the right moment.  This is a senator, after all, who has called for requiring that workers be represented on company boards of a certain size, taxing the wealthy in order to double the amount of children in day care, and building enough homes to pretty much end the housing shortage for the poor.  I wonder if enough people are yet seeing the links between the horror of the Trump presidency, and of a broader crisis of political economy that prepared the ground for his rise, not to mention the Democrats’ complicity in this devolution as they failed to offer a vigorous defense of the public good over the past decades of privatization, outsourcing, offshoring, and historic levels of inequality?  Whether enough do will settle the fate of her candidacy; whether Warren can help enough people see this will be a basic measure of whether she can win.

Democrats, and American more generally, should be deeply skeptical of any Democratic candidate who looks upon our current situation — an authoritarian president and anti-democratic GOP dedicated to elevating the fortunes (literal and otherwise) of the wealthy above all else — and thinks that deep, even radical changes are not called for.