Posted on 12/20/2014 5:41:28 PM PST by presidio9
There’s been a lot of chatter about a potential challenger to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. And thus far, there has only been one viable contender. But if U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made one thing clear, it is that Warren is not running for president.
Semantics don’t always mean a lot in politics. Take ol’ Dick Nixon: “I am not a crook.” Or Bill Clinton: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” Both ostensible lies. But Warren seemed pretty clear in her interview with Steve Inskeep Monday morning.
Inskeep: Sen. Warren, as you must know, that even as you were fighting over this in the Senate, there was a group called Ready for Warren that wants you to run for president, that released a letter signed by more than 300 people who describe themselves as former Obama campaign workers and staffers and aides. They want you to run. What do you say to them?
Warren: I’m not running for president. That’s not what we’re doing. We had a really important fight in the United States Congress just this past week. And I’m putting all my energy into that fight and to what happens after this.
Inskeep: Would you tell these independent groups, “Give it up!” You’re just never going to run.
Warren: I told them, “I’m not running for president.”
Inskeep: You’re putting that in the present tense, though. Are you never going to run?
Warren: I am not running for president.
Inskeep: You’re not putting a “never” on that.
Warren: I am not running for president. You want me to put an exclamation point at the end?
So, okay. That clears things up, right? But media analysts persist in picking Warren’s language apart, clinging to the fact that she never completely ruled out any presidential bids. And that’s fine. Warren isn’t obligated to sign on to any future plans, but the nebulous nature of anything beyond 2016 keeps her name in the hat, which is a smart political move.
But there is a fair point in her language. She has only positioned herself to say that she is not currently running for president, not that she wouldn’t announce something even for the next election cycle. I don’t think that’s her plan, though. Even though Warren isn’t afraid of going head-to-head with people in her own party, going up against Clinton would be an uphill battle. Current Democratic polls have Clinton far-and-above her next imagined opponent, which is Warren, by a 51.4 percent spread.
Warren running, while putting two great candidates in the ring for the Democrats, would needlessly split votes for Clinton. The major benefit that Democrats have for 2016 is that they have a clear-cut choice for their candidate, and they can begin building that base way before the primaries. The Republicans, on the other hand, have a few candidates with weak support. They’re currently fragmented in their choice for a nominee, which is the political equivalent of *shrug* “This’ll do.”
Still, I don’t even think that’s the big deterrent to Warren running in 2016. As she mentioned in her interview with NPR, Warren has some big fish to fry in the Senate. She’s taking on Wall Street reform above and beyond what her own party has even imagined. She opposed an omnibus spending bill, which received bipartisan support because it loosened the regulations to the fat cats she wants to fight. Bringing down Wall Street is going to happen overnight, and it doesn’t seem as if Warren is willing to let her work go unfinished. In the Senate, she can continue that battle. From the Oval Office? If Obama’s administration has shown us anything, it is that she will be able to do little more than express her wishes and wait.
I think it behooves both Clinton and Warren for Clinton to step up to the plate for Democrats in 2016. Meanwhile, Warren can spend more time in the Senate, making friends, proving her effectiveness, and getting ready to be able to coax action out of a gridlocked Congress. Not to say that Clinton is free of those same challenges, but she has certainly spent way more time shaking hands than Warren, who was elected to the Senate in 2013.
I believe Warren when she says she isn’t running for president. And for the Democrats’ sake, I hope it’s true.
It is so bizarre that a total LIAR would even be considered a candidate.
Warren got all this fawning press coverage and she did not fight for her position at all.
She could have done a point of order like Cruz did.
It was all for show.
No, they’ll just make her the VP Candidate no matter who is the Democrat Presidential Candidate.
Clinton / Warren, Hitler / Warren, Stalin / Warren...
BTW - I hear they call her “Granny” Warren in MA.
The simple answer is that she is no dummy. She understands the American electorate, and knows that if she were the candidate in 2016 she’d end up like George McGovern.
She’s not going to do that. She has a state where she can be the senator, so she’s sticking with that.
Hitlary CLINTON probably told her to back off.
I’ve listened to three speeches she’s given (via Youtube). I’d say for speech-giving talents....she’s at best, a two-star. Unless she hires someone to write them....there’s limited content. And the voice just isn’t one that draws you to listen.
Whoever is promoting her....is betting on a losing horse.
Hillary was saying the same thing last year.
Squaw running.
She’s running.
Liars lie...that is what they do. This uber-LIB/DIM “thing” is a certified chronic liar.
Politicians lie. They have to practice and show talent at the easy lies first as an audition for the more complex lies that will come later.
Abby Johnston neglects the most blatant clue about Warren: she is a liberal. Since WHEN do liberals tell the truth?
Occam’s Razor, baby.
I really wonder how some of these so-called journalists are able to get dressed in the morning.
I think by the time the journ-0-lists get done with her, she’ll be a proud Native American grandma fighting for the middle class against Wall $treet and big banks. Throw in a minority VP (black or Hispanic) and you’ve got a strong slate IMHO.
When MoveOn.org endorsed her last week, that indicates where she is headed. The Chicago Mob rolls out Baraq 2.0 disguised as grandma.
You are exactly right on all counts.
This article reads like it's from Democratic Part Teen Beat.
EVERY politician, REGARDLESS of affiliation is “not running for president” - until they do!
Hillary, despite the polls, is unelectable - and the Rats know it.
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