Regarding this discussion about whether Warren will bring Clinton to mind for voters–it seems self-evident to me that of course she will.
We think in images, and our minds look for similarities, and I think a hell of a lot of voters will look at Warren and see Clinton: another ~70-year-old white woman who’s a Democratic policy wonk from the Northeast.
Whether this is accurate, whether this is fair, whether this helps or hurts: these are different questions. The American electorate isn’t known for deep thinking about candidates and can’t be expected to focus on differences like hairstyles or attitudes toward Wall Street (and let’s face it, there are many, many policy similarities as well between the two). Lots of people will see the very obvious similarities, not look beyond them, and conclude that Warren is Clinton 2.0. (I actually think Kirsten Gillibrand has more in common with Clinton than Warren does, but the age-group thing is very powerful…)
In the same way, Cory Booker is reminding a lot of people of Obama. And Beto O’Rourke is constantly being likened to Bobby Kennedy (and I just saw Sherrod Brown being compared to Kennedy as well). Fair and accurate, to make these connections based largely on gender, race, and other external characteristics? Nah, but it’s the way we roll. So yes, for better or for worse, being an older woman (and a couple of other important similarities) will get plenty of voters to see Warren and think “Clinton.”
This seems different to me. It’s a pattern of behavior that she demonstrated time and time again, and then doubled down on, ultimately culminating in a fraction of a percent Native American. And that was vindication to her, that she was honest all along. If some white guy possessed a fraction of a percent African and described himself to hiring directories, universities, and bar associations as “African American”, he’d be skewered. And rightly so.
This does not fall into the category of the Northams or the Kavanaughs.
There is no way in hell that she is going to keep America’s collective attention on her message when she’s being hammered non-stop 24/7 over the Native American thing, and she will be. “1/1024th” has already memed itself into defining her identity to most people, and that document posted above with the line saying “American Indian” is the nail in the coffin. Not only will the whole Trump base be energized to the max to vote against her, the idea of a white lady grasping at flimsy threads of POC identity will not play well with black voters whose votes are badly needed to win this election. If they stayed home for Clinton, they will really stay home for Warren.
She is not a viable candidate. If she’s the nominee, it’s four more fucking years of Trump.
In a party that is now increasingly defined by its embrace of diversity, she was already facing some tough sledding as a middle-age white woman from New England. But she’s now in danger of becoming to Native Americans what Rachel Dolezal is to African Americans.
If donors are smart, they won’t drop another dime on her campaign.
God forbid we actively push back against this noxious bullshit, wherein a democratic candidate is invalidated by one stupid gaffe, and the republican candidate can get away with being the single most dishonest public person ever and shrug off 22 accusations of sexual assault. This can be the state of the media landscape, if we let it, but why the fuck should we let it? Warren is an accomplished and successful legislator who knows what she’s talking about. She has a pronounced history dealing with big banks, fighting back against the abuse of working people and consumers, and has so little actual baggage that we’re stuck talking about… well, this. AOC is showing how it’s done - she doesn’t just let the media do this shit. She pushes back. When the refs make a bullshit call, she calls them out on it. And y’know what? She’s incredibly effective. Imagine if we started beating the refs for real unjustice as much as republicans beat the refs because they can get away with it. What would the media landscape look like then?
Again, the competition is Donald Trump, whose administration is currently under fire for locking refugee children in cages, using them as bait to deport their relatives, adopting them off to strangers, and refusing to even try to reunite them. This is disqualifying? Why the fuck would we ever let this be disqualifying? If there’s a substantial portion of the population who thinks that that is okay (Hi pjacks, so nice of you to drop in and tell us what we should think! How do you feel about kids in cages, huh? ), why should there ever be a universe where we let this one gaffe dominate the news over and over again? Because I guarantee you, ever single fucking candidate we can field will have something at least this bad, assuming it is given non-stop airtime and constant attention.
Imagine if people cared about modern concentration camps for children even half as much as we clutch our fucking pearls over a white hippie pretending to have Native American ancestry three decades ago. What a better world that would be. Trump does worse shit on a daily basis.
The real question is if she can shrug it off in the Democratic primaries. It’s shaping up to be a very crowded field. I’d be surprised if it went entirely without comment on the campaign trail or in a debate. That’s her first hurdle, other Democrats attacking her over it. If she can’t clear the hurdle with Democratic voters, Trump is irrelevant.
Yah maybe, but honestly, Elizabeth Warren was never a real candidate. And what she did is actually very, very dishonest and offensive to people of color. She used their status so that she can gain personal benefit. This is fraud. Elizabeth Warren is a fraud, and I say this as someone who sides with her on many political issues.
With all due respect to the native community, as far as electing a president goes who gives a crap if she’s their Dolezal?
Her problem is that she is not a particularly charismatic policy wonk. Clinging to a microscopic piece of native heritage is more a symptom of that problem than the actual problem.
Well she had that good roll out week end. And it is very early yet.
She’s not my favorite and I am very skeptical that she’ll be a strong campaigner but I won’t count her out yet. Iowa and New Hampshire will narrow the field some and those who are not in the top three in either will be hard pressed to keep going much farther. Can she be in one or both of those two races’ top three finishers? Maybe. And then who knows?
Man, I liked Elizabeth Warren until she started wheeling out this Indian crap. As a Southerner I understand that sometimes, for reasons we don’t understand, we need to connect to indigenous forebears. In fact I myself am related to Sequoia… through his (likely) white father’s side. Why do I even know this? Why did I need to dig this up? Probably because it’s hard to face the reality that most of us Southerners came from some nameless white river of nameless white people seeking a land grab against indigneous people whose names we’d rather forget. We profited from Andrew Jackson’s willingness to move ancient cities to Oklahoma to make room for white people in Alabama.
We grasp for any straw of reality that proves we have a non-European connection to this land.
Sorry Liz, this ain’t it. You’re done. Please let it go.
), why should there ever be a universe where we let this one gaffe dominate the news over and over again? Because I guarantee you, ever single fucking candidate we can field will have something at least this bad, assuming it is given non-stop airtime and constant attention.