INTRODUCTION (TO A BRIEF SERIES)
For the past generation, the relationship between the two parties has been one of war. But the problem is – and our present national crisis is the result of this problem – during all this time, it has been only one party (the Republicans) that has fought it as a war, while the other has engaged as if it were a continuation of the typical inter-party relations in American politics.
Until now. With the impeachment of Donald Trump – in the face of the Republicans’ grotesque assault on our constitutional order – the Democrats have at last picked up a weapon.
But it has become clear that this way of fighting – although necessary – is not sufficient. Which has opened up an important opportunity for Elizabeth Warren to seize, one which can simultaneously solve two big problems:
In this moment of national crisis, the nation needs more from the Democrats than we’re getting. Elizabeth Warren needs to find a way to rekindle her campaign for the presidency, if she’s to get the Democratic nomination.I begin here a brief series to propose a single solution to both problems.
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First, more on those two problems:
On the first point, if anyone doubts that the Democrats need to be doing more in this vital battle over impeachment, consider this: Over the past month, according to the futures markets, Trump’s chances of winning a second term have increased substantially. (The odds have leapt from around 40% to about a 50-50 proposition).
Clearly, something must be missing from the Democrats’ current approaches to swaying public opinion if -- during the same month that the Democrats have dramatized on national television how President Trump has undoubtedly committed crimes, corrupted our constitutional election process, and betrayed the national security which the people have entrusted him with the powers to protect – Trump’s political prospects have improved!
Not to belittle the excellence of the Democrats’ performance in the House, leading from the House Intelligence Committee through to the House Judiciary Committee to the floor of the entire House of Representatives. But clearly, those fine performances have been insufficient to defeat the stream of lies and distractions deployed by the Republicans.
For years, the Democrats have been unable to weaponize their important truths to make the Republicans pay a political price for their lies.
Fortunately, I believe Elizabeth Warren has the ability to do that. (I’ve favored Elizabeth Warren since the early spring, because she’s been the only candidate I could envision going toe-to-toe with Trump, and calling out the Trump Party, and defeating them in the way America needs.)
What I will propose is that Senator Warren wholeheartedly takes on the role of being the Democrats “War-time leader” (in this moment in which the long-standing war between the parties is focused on the issue of the Trump impeachment).
It is clear that she needs to do something, if she’s to have any hope of being the nominee.
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So, on the second point — Senator Warren’s need to find a way to rekindle her campaign -- Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has faltered in recent weeks.
Her standing in the polls has dropped to just over half of where it was, both nationally and in key states. Her fund-raising has grown weaker. Bernie Sanders has overtaken her position as the front-running progressive alternative to Joe Biden. The futures markets assessment of her chances of getting the nomination has dropped accordingly. (The markets give Warren just 1/3 as much chance of being the nominee as Sanders.)And there’s no sign that Senator Warren has come up with any idea for re-igniting the campaign’s fire that has been doused (presumably by her positioning on the Medicare-for-All issue).
In terms of the race for the nomination, it would seem that Elizabeth has nothing to lose by being bold.
Fortunately, the political situation in America right now presents Senator Warren with an opening to make a bold move. She should jump forward now to provide Democrats with the kind of bold leadership – a kind of domestic “war-time leadership” – the Democratic electorate craves in this moment of perilous crisis in America.
For Democrats these days not only want to win this battle against Trump, and all the forces aligned with him. They yearn for that victory.
And, I believe, a majority of those Democrats can sense that the impeachment process – as now being waged by the Democrats in Congress – is not moving things their way and against Trump and the Trump Party.
And if a 2020 candidate steps forward now and demonstrates that they can fight that battle with the forcefulness and effectiveness that the Democrats have so chronically lacked, that candidate will excite the Democratic electorate and will be able to ride that excitement to the nomination.
Senator Warren, I believe, has it in her to be that kind of hero to the Democratic voters, and to move American politics away from the brink, as so many of us deeply desire in these dark times.
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But there is no time to lose. The time to strike the necessary blows to turn the impeachment process to the advantage of the Democrats (and the nation) is now. And the time for Senator Warren to make herself the war-time leader to inspire the Democratic electorate – with its profound yearning for victory – is now as well.
Stay tuned for what I envision Senator Warren doing as the Democrats’ “War-Time Leader” in this war between the nation’s two major parties — a war in which the survival of American democracy is arguably at stake.
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I’ve now written and published the next installment, articulating further the move I propose that Elizabeth Warren take now— to rekindle her campaign by showing herself to be the kind of combat-ready leader the Democrats need if they’re doing to defeat Trump and take down this disgraceful Trump Party.