One name has been coming up, time after time.
Progressive firebrand Senator Elizabeth Warren.
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| "Hm. How many more ways can I get under Donald Trump's skin?" |
I love Senator Warren. She has been bringing the pain on progressive issues for a little while now. She has been very vocal about such issues as reining in the payday loan industry. Recently, she has been taking the fight straight to Republican nominee and ignorant f&%*muppet Donald Trump (thanks, Scots, for the beautifully obscene insults). She has been consistent and relentless, and as Ice T put it back in 1987, Warren is "like a pit bull lockin' on a doberman's neck."
Senator Warren had a recent joint campaign event with Hillary Clinton, and continued to stick her thumb into Trump's eye. And the bloviating fleshbag and clueless numpty's only response was to call Sen. Warren "Goofy Elizabeth" and "Pocahontas." Warren has demonstrated that she runs circles around Trump by doing this: POCAHONTAS. <--- go ahead. Click on the link. Sheer genius.
Does that mean that she would make a great Vice President? She's obviously a great surrogate. And personally, I think that Hillary Clinton should be thanking sweet baby Jesus that Warren did not make a run for the Presidency. She would have given Hillary more fits than then-Senator Obama did. But she didn't, a slue of others including Bernie Sanders did, and now here we are. But let's discuss Senator Warren as a Vice-Presidential candidate.
NO.
It's not due to qualifications, as she is imminently qualified. Elizabeth Warren should not be Secretary Clinton's running mate for the following reasons.
1: MAKE-UP OF THE U.S. SENATE
If Senator Warren becomes Vice President, that creates a vacancy in the Senate. If we have learned nothing over the last eight years, we should have learned that a sitting President needs all the support in Congress he/she can get. We have been dealing with partisan obstructionism for most of the past 8 years. There are no guarantees in politics, including the type of Senator that would replace Vice-President Warren. This segment from this ThinkProgress article pretty much sums it up.
// Massachusetts currently has a Republican governor, who would be able to name a temporary replacement to fill Warren’s senate seat if the Massachusetts lawmaker became vice president. And, even though this seat would eventually be filled by the winner of a special election, there’s no certainty that Massachusetts voters will choose another Democrat to fill Warren’s seat. Just ask former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). //
As crucial as this election is, and considering everything that's at state, we can't afford to have a Republican fill a seat vacated by Warren, no matter how temporary. And as the segment lays out, there's no guarantee that a special election would seat a progressive. After all, the late Liberal Lion of the Senate was replaced by Scott Brown.
2. THE GOOD SOLDIER
One of the things that makes a good Vice-President is the ability to be a good soldier. No one has proved that point better than President Obama's own personal enforcer, Vice President Joe Biden.
Throughout President Obama's two terms, Joe Biden has been loyal to a fault. And like the best lieutenants, he did not outshine the man in charge. Even with his so-called gaffes, he did not draw attention away from the President or steal the President's spotlight.
Which brings us to Senator Warren. As much of a surrogate that she is for Secretary Clinton, does this mean that she will take a back seat to President Clinton? Hillary Clinton needs someone who wouldn't overshadow her, and Senator Warren's current status as a progressive firebrand could run the risk of stealing the spotlight from the always-pragmatic Clinton. Whoever Clinton picks, it will be someone that won't have the crowd thinking "Why didn't THIS person win?" And the LAST thing that she needs to pick is someone who will run the country from behind the dark curtain.
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| Yeah... "Vice" President... yeah, right. |
3. KEEPING PRESIDENT CLINTON HONEST
I have a theory that President Obama governed as a center-right Republican and got a pass. And to quote the great philosopher Herman Cain, I don't have the facts to back that up. But I believe that overall, we were so focused on the obstruction that President Obama faced, and getting what seemed to be the most basic things done, that we didn't hold him accountable enough for such things as support for the TransPacific Partnership and not bringing criminal charges to the bankers and hedge fund managers that collapsed the economy.
Now, we are in a position to keep the White House Democratic, and we may be in a position to take back the Senate and the House of Representatives, and reshape the United States Supreme Court. So, we will need to make sure that President Clinton has all of the Congressional support she needs, to pass her legislative ideas.
But remember, as much as Clinton campaigned about being a progressive, she's pretty much as center-right as President Obama is, and even moreso on issues such as national security. We have to make sure that President Clinton is fulfilling her promises, and not giving away the store to Wall Street. This is why Senator Warren is still needed in the Senate. Senator Bernie Sanders has done a great job of pushing Secretary Clinton to the left on a lot of campaign issues, including things like a living wage. Senators like Warren, Sanders, and others more to her ideological left will (hopefully) assure that Clinton's pendulum won't swing more towards the right.
4. DE-FANGING SENATOR WARREN
This is probably the biggest reason why I don't feel that Warren should be Clinton's VP. As mentioned earlier, Senator Warren is becoming a progressive firebrand, with the gravitas to be taken seriously and not dismissed as a loon. A Vice-President Warren can't call out President Clinton if Clinton decides that fracking is cool, or that payday loan institutions have no pals in the White House. A Warren Vice-Presidency pretty much silences Warren, and relegates her to the role of Clinton's lieutenant, Clinton's second-in-command.
Senator Warren needs to continue to bring the pain from the Senate floor. And there are plenty of other qualified people who will gladly fulfill the role of Clinton's Good Lieutenant.
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