OPINION:
There’s a persistent bleep on the presidential radar, and that would be Sen. Elizabeth Warren, now getting cast in the role of a stealth candidate who could potentially upstage Hillary Clinton’s strategic advance to the White House in 2016.
Recent pesky news coverage has not been the best for Mrs. Clinton, and there’s fatigue among voters who just can’t deal with another round of the potential presidential hopeful’s perky reinvention.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Democrat is on the move. She’s written “A Fighting Chance”, a well received memoir, published well before Mrs. Clinton’s “Hard Choices” on book shelves, eliciting a tepid response from reviewers. She is biding her time, lioness-like, in the “tall grass” as her rival flounders, according to Thomas Lifson, editor of The American Thinker.
But another canny observer draws a parallel between Mrs. Warren and the winning, straightforward appeal of David Brat, who recently rattled Rep. Eric Cantor right out of the Virginia GOP primaries. The Massachusetts Democrat is following suit.
“Senator Warren owes her left-wing hero status to the Democratic version of this kind of populism. She’s been talking for years about how the well-connected ‘rig the system’ for their own benefit,” says Jonah Goldberg.
“Now, I find many of Warren’s proposed solutions - more regulation, more taxes, more government, etc. - abhorrent. But, believe it or not, I am not a Democratic primary voter. Those who are love what Warren is selling. Which is why Warren is perfectly poised to be the Obama of 2016. And the role of Hillary Clinton will be played by Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Goldberg advises.
SEE ALSO: Las Vegas students demand Hillary Clinton return $225K speaking fee
Ms. Warren, meanwhile, was in full populist mode on Sunday, “delivering folksy aphorisms with a slight twang” as she relentlessly went after Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, according to a Boston Globe account.
“Her latest travels, which will include a trip to West Virginia in two weeks, represent a test of whether her brand of liberal populism, which has captivated the national left, can also appeal in the South and help Democrats defend their hold on the Senate majority.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.