Some of the candidates probably meet this criteria while a few clearly don't. (That said, it should go without saying that we must unite behind whoever the Democratic candidate ultimately is; that the candidates themselves must not tear each other or the Party down during the primaries and beyond -- I'm looking at you, Bernie.)
But beyond who might be the best candidate, a separate but related question is who would be the best president. I think the answer overwhelmingly is Elizabeth Warren.
From a policy perspective, no one has better chops. As a brilliant Harvard law professor, she argued for a new agency to protect consumers before the 2008 financial crisis hit. She chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel tasked with investigating the bank bailout, where she took on the financial giants as well as the government. She essentially created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which, before it was gutted by Trump, provided real relief for consumers against predatory practices by financial institutions and credit card companies.
Warren has already released a number of well-developed policy positions that address systemic economic inequality and would wrest a measure of economic control from corporations and the super wealthy while shifting some of their massive resources to workers, consumers and communities.
This includes Universal Child Care, which would guarantee child care for every child up to 5-years-old with families paying no more than 7% percent of their income in fees. The cost would be paid for by another of Warren's proposed policies -- the Ultra-Millionaire Tax -- which would impose a 2% tax on wealth above $50 million and a 3% tax on wealth above $1 billion. This proposal would raise about $2.75 trillion over 10 years.
And there's Warren's Accountability Capitalism Act, which provides a powerful contrast to the Republican tax bill -- and, as she puts it, seeks to "help eliminate skewed market incentives and return to the era when American corporations and American workers did well together." It "aims to reverse the harmful trends over the last thirty years that have led to record corporate profits and rising worker productivity but stagnant wages." It would require that: (1) corporations with over $1 billion in revenue must obtain a federal charter requiring its directors to “consider the interests of all corporate stakeholders” beyond shareholders, including employees, customers and communities; and (2) workers of large corporations would elect 40% of the board of directors.
These aren't your typical wonky proposals from liberals addressing piecemeal issues, but are bold, game-changing policies. Together with the Green New Deal and some variation of Medicare for All -- that Warren and most of the other Democratic candidates support -- they should not only have wide appeal for voters during the campaign, but would provide an essential new direction for the next administration.
A critical, overarching issue for both the campaign and the next administration is race -- particularly how institutional racism continues to impact every aspect of American society while the Republican Party has become the unapologetic party of white nationalism. This is one reason (among many) why Democratic candidates of color -- Kamala Harris and Corey Booker -- are such compelling candidates. They not only have the potential to energize African American voters who are key to a Democratic victory, but they bring necessary perspectives on race and racism drawn from their personal experiences and family histories.
Warren comes at racism from a more academic perspective. But she understands, as she stated in her commencement address at Morgan State, a historically black college, “[w]e need to stop pretending the same doors open for everyone.” She points to "generations of discrimination” as the reason for economic inequality between white and black households. At Morgan State, she acknowledged that “rules matter, and our government — not just individuals within the government, but the government itself — has systematically discriminated against black people in this country,” with “two sets of rules: One for white families, and one for everyone else.”
A recent New York Times article described Warren's and Kamala Harris's "morally driven policy goals" as reflective of a "shift in the importance of race and identity issues in the Democratic Party." Warren told the Times that "[w]e must confront the dark history of slavery and government-sanctioned discrimination in this country that has had many consequences, including undermining the ability of black families to build wealth in America for generations.” She explained that “[w]e need systemic, structural changes to address that." And it isn't just talk. In addition to her childcare proposal which, as the Times notes, "could particularly affect black and Latino communities, where informal child-care arrangements are more common," Warren also supports the government provision of special home-buying assistance to residents of communities that were historically subject to redlining, i.e., discriminatory mortgage practices.
Of course, no Democratic proposal has any chance of passing the Senate -- even if Democrats win back the majority -- unless Republicans are stripped of their ability to obstruct everything. That means we must take back the Senate and Democrats must eliminate the filibuster if they take over. Unfortunately, most of the other Democratic candidates, particularly Warren's fellow Senators, are skittish about messing with Senate rules. They fundamentally fail to grasp how the Republicans have destroyed traditional norms in their pursuit of unfettered Republican control over the government. Warren understands this. She has declared with regard to eliminating the filibuster, “Everything stays on the table. You keep it all on the table. Don’t take anything off the table,”
And, finally, a President Warren is not likely to pull an Obama and insist on "looking forward" while refusing to go after the malfeasance of her predecessor. While several other candidates seem to be determined to ignore the orange elephant in the room and focus solely on Democratic issues, Warren shows that she can walk and chew gum at the same time, outlining policy proposals while calling out Trump's lies, racism and corruption. With a lifetime of experience devoted to going after the rich and powerful, there is no one better positioned to take on Trump's abuse of power. As she said recently on the campaign trail, “by the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president. In fact, he may not even be a free person.” But if he is still free, you can be sure that Warren will seek accountability.
Unfortunately, the press has already shown that it has learned nothing from the 2016 debacle and will continue to treat a Democrat's relatively minor gaffes and missteps as equivalent to Trump's mind-blowing number of impeachment-worthy scandals. They will continue to buy into Trump's framing and distort the issues surrounding Warren's claim of Native American ancestry, making some voters skittish about her electability. Hopefully, as the campaigns get going, there will be more focus on substance. If that happens, Warren could prove to be a formidable candidate. She would certainly be a formidable president.
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