David Corn: Elizabeth Warren or Bust!

[flpoljunkie]

Elizabeth Warren or Bust!

David Corn
08/17/10

I've been out of Washington for a little while -- escaping the heat and the disheartening politics. I've even managed to go for more than a week without tweeting (with a few lapses). But it's hard to escape people who want to talk about what's happening back within the Beltway. What's edifying is discovering what folks outside Washington focus on.

Those of us who follow politics and policy for a living often have numerous matters on our to-watch lists; recently, that roster has been long, including Afghanistan, extending the Bush tax cuts, the coming congressional elections, the Colorado Senate primary, the silly Ground Zero mosque controversy, and more. People outside the politerati usually have a truncated list, and often imbue a particular issue or controversy with special significance. A highly unscientific survey -- based on comments made to me by highly-educated, self-identified, vacationing liberals who feel let down by President Barack Obama -- shows that a top priority for Obama's base these days is Elizabeth Warren.

Warren is the plain-speaking, tough-on-Wall-Street Harvard professor who heads the congressional oversight panel that monitors the TARP bank bailout, and she's a (or the) leading candidate to take over the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection that was created by the Wall Street reform legislation recently signed into law by Obama. (This agency that was first proposed by Warren.) Several members of my sample group -- completely unprompted -- each said the same: If Obama doesn't appoint Warren, I'm giving up on him.

In years past it would be odd for the appointment of a regulator to draw so much notice and to become such an edgy grassroots issue. (MoveOn, labor unions, and other progressive outfits have been demanding that Obama give her the job.) But the Warren affair has become a high-stakes political moment.

This is understandable. Obama's supporters on the left are yearning for a clear deliverable. Obama, as the White House repeatedly points out, has achieved several impressive progressive victories. But size and significance aside, they have been hazy and, for lefties, occasionally bittersweet wins. The stimulus package was not as big as many economists said was necessary, and Obama muffed the message war. (Admittedly, it is difficult to take credit for not losing another 2 million jobs.) The health care reform measure did not include a public option and ended up a complicated hodgepodge, with many of its benefits not scheduled to hit for several years. The Wall Street reform legislation was another complicated melange of new rules not easily fathomed by the average voter -- or yours truly. Moreover, these big accomplishments occurred alongside unpalatable bailouts for financial firms and auto companies and an escalation of the unpopular Afghanistan war. Obama's big wins have not been as easy to process as President George W. Bush's: passing supersized tax cuts and winning congressional approval for his invasion of Iraq.

more...

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/08/17/elizabeth-warren-or-bust/print/

[Kurovski]

1. K&R.

You betcha-cha-cha-cha!

[Me.]

2. Good Read