I wrote recently that I thought Elizabeth Warren would be a great Veep pick but it wouldn't happen because it would add to the burden of retaking the Senate. Massachusetts has a Republican governor. That would mean at least 6 months or so of an additional Republican senator in 2017 - assuming Clinton wins.
But I'm reconsidering that. In fact, I'm past reconsidering: Hillary should put Warren on the ticket.
The modern vice presidency - as a political device - is seldom about ideological balance or bringing a critical state into play. As it happens, Warren would be a helpful political balancing both in general and coming off the bruising Clinton v Sanders fight. But the most effective modern Veep picks have been ones that helpfully frame and reinforce the message the person at the top of the ticket embodies.
Warren is off-the-cuff, free-wheeling and direct in all the ways Clinton is cautious and rehearsed. But it is a reinforcing rather than an invidious contrast and likely helps bring to the surface Hillary's progressive background that has been buried by decades at the pinnacle of Democratic party politics and years as the punching bag of the left of the party which feels excluded by the seemingly endless Clinton ascendency.
It may sound crazy to attach so much to her recent Twitter contretemps with Donald Trump. But the tone, rhythm and style are exactly what the Democrats need to knock Trump down and bring out his toxic mix of personal insecurity and emotional instability. It's not over-earnest or off-key or droning (traditional Democratic tonalities - let's be honest). She's mocking, substantive and constantly on target.
Indeed, Trump's responses to Warren, his attacks on her, make it clear to me he'll have a hard time handling her.
You know it's tough being right all of the time.Get your facts straight, @realDonaldTrump. I didn’t even go to Harvard – I’m a graduate of @UHouston and @RutgersU.— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) May 26, 2016
Personally I think that as events have rolled out that the need for Warren on the ticket have become more and more necessary.
It is becoming overwhelmingly clear that, despite what he says, Sanders is really more interested in pushing his agenda rather than uniting the Democratic party.
And with new revelations about Hillary's e-mail server causing more people to distrust her, there is an argument to be made that she needs somebody on her ticket who is untouched by scandal of any kind and who can bring the Sanders supporters running the minute she is introduced as the running mate.
Try as you might you will find no other person who meets that criteria even half as well as does Elizabeth Warren.
Source http://ift.tt/25nrOz4
