Warren v. Clinton
An easy road lies head for Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination of the 2016 Presidential elections. Unlike the stack of notable figures seeking the Republican nomination, such as Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush, the less competition Clinton will face will allow her to conserve more money for campaigning during the General Elections.
But the path changes for Clinton with the threat of Elizabeth Warren. While Clinton holds a more favorable standing than Warren amongst Democrats, Warren’s reputation for middle-class sympathies (in contrasts to Clinton’s amicable relationship with Wall Street) could propel younger and more progressive voters to choose her and may even lead to her winning primaries. However, if Warren were to garner a large enough mass to beat Clinton, the great divide she would create amongst democratic voters, in addition to the loss of moderate-republican voters who may have been persuaded to vote for Clinton, will ultimately make it easier for the Republican nominee to win Generals. Therefore, for the success of the Democratic party, which Warren, Clinton and democratic voters all favor more than Republican success, it is best for Warren to not run, and for all Democratic voters to unite under Clinton.
Most surprising about Warren’s supporters is that many of them are Republicans. Despite Clinton’s more moderate actions, her compliancy over Walmart’s anti labor union practices for example, Republicans like former Gov. Mike Huckabee have praised her courage. RedState’s editor Leon Wolf expressed support of her stance on big business and former Representative Michele Bachmann called her an “extremely attractive candidate.” Even Rush Limbaugh is in anticipation for Warren to start running.
These Republicans support Warren despite her clear disdain for the GOP. Besides calling the Republican leaders hypocrites for their behavior during the government shut down, all of her positions, from gun control to high tax rates for the rich, oppose the positions of most Republicans. In fact, Warren was named one of the top 20 U.S. progressives by the New Statesman. Therefore, Republicans don’t praise Warren because they actually want her leading the country, but because of the potent threat she would give Clinton. With Warren in the primaries, Clinton would have both less support and less money to survive the Generals against the Republicans, which is why she should not run or receive any prompting.
In addition to helping the Republicans, Warren does not even differ from Clinton on most positions. They are both pro-choice, both support medical marijuana and harsher guidelines for gun acquisition. In addition, Clinton has already started to express a newer, more liberal stance on big business. “Don’t let anyone tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs… I voted to raise the minimum wage and guess what, millions of jobs were created or paid better and more families were secure,” she said at a campaign event late last year, breaking off from her Corporate law and Walmart stockholder roots. Therefore, Warren could only hurt the democratic party as she would present similar positions as Clinton but would due to her more democratic reputation would repel more moderate thinking liberals. And in truth, she herself knows this.
“I think we need to give [Clinton] a chance to decide if she’s going to run and to lay out what she wants to run on…. I’m not running, and I’m not going to run,” Warren recently remarked on the Today Show. By expressing both sentiments at the same time, Warren acknowledges the potential threat she has against Clinton and chooses not to engage, the best option for all.
No matter what, the presidential election of 2016 will be fierce. Both Republicans and Democrats have strong moderate candidates who can appeal to a vast spectrum of voters. However, the democrats have a foothold with the already massive following of Clinton. Instead of spreading out this following amongst other similar candidates such as Warren, democratic voters should follow Warren herself and solidify themselves under Clinton as a united force.