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The outgoing president is a coward, not a fighter. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is the fighter. Since the presidential election, she has maintained a low profile, but that does not mean she is idle. It is nice to see her back in the news.
“No one should be surprised about what I fight for, or how hard I will fight,” Warren tells Politico of private conversations with Joe Biden. “For me, it’s always about finding the way to be most effective.”
Under a Biden presidency she is looking at how Democrats can deliver visible, dramatic results for constituents. That will be a a tall order if Republicans retain control of the Senate over the next two years. But Warren is charged up for effort, more pragmatic than she was when first she won her seat, and willing to play the inside game if it advances the ball (Politico):
Along with a seat at Schumer’s leadership table, Warren now has a presidential run under her belt plus a progressive record that includes hard-fought battles both with her own party and the GOP.
She even secured language in a critical defense bill to rename bases honoring Confederate soldiers over President Donald Trump’s opposition; his veto is on the verge of being overridden for the first time of his presidency. It’s not Medicare for All or the Green New Deal, but she says it exemplifies what Democrats can accomplish during divided government: “It’s the right side of history.”
Yet Warren warns her party needs to act quickly on things like student loan debt to make sure anti-Trump voters don’t see Democrats running a gridlocked Washington that does little to improve their daily lives. Biden’s view on this is less clear: he recently told several newspaper columnists that it was “pretty questionable” that he has the authority to cancel all that debt.
“Democrats need to deliver,” Warren said. “No matter what. We have to use every tool, and we need to use it early, boldly, confidently, and unapologetically.”
Warren’s influence seems to have pushed Schumer into more liberal stances than I recall him taking. On student loan cancellation and on pushing for the $2,000 survival checks.
Warren’s occasional jabs at her own party usually stem from her desire to take on Wall Street. Soon after she was elected in 2012, she took on a Democratic compromise on student loan rates. “This whole system stinks,” she declared. Then in 2015 she tanked Antonio Weiss’ nomination to be a top Obama Treasury official because of his ties to the financial industry.
Then she battled with moderate Democrats in 2018 over a banking deregulation bill as they pursued reelection in red states. It resulted in painful internal debates, with Warren publicly lamenting “some of our teammates don’t even show up for the fight.”
It is not surprising that Warren hates Zoom calls. She would rather pace while on the phone. She’s got too much energy to sit still for long periods.
It might not be her accomplishment as senator, but now Warren has a counterpart in the House in Warren’s former student, Katie Porter of California. They both put the fear of God in hearing witnesses.
It’s good theater. But it’s not theater for theater’s sake. That sets them apart from many colleagues in both the House and Senate.
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