Photo: L. Weikel

Sadness and Frustration

I watched with sadness and frustration Rachel Maddow’s interview of Elizabeth Warren tonight and was reminded of why I so strongly supported her candidacy. Her intelligence, compassion, and dedication to doing what’s right inspire me. These qualities and other obvious skills of hers actually foster daydreams of what our countrycould actually achieve if she were in charge.

There is not one doubt in my mind that she would surround herself with (truly) the best and brightest individuals ideally suited to getting their job accomplished.

Ever since Elizabeth Warren entered the political arena – back when she first started explaining what the heck was happening when the markets cratered in 2008, and more importantly why  – she’s been a hero to me. She then not only succeeded in advocating for the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency in 2010, but then became Massachusetts’s first female Senator in 2012.

I’m pretty sure she’s the only public person (whom I don’t know personally) who I’ve ever felt enough genuine respect and admiration for to call my hero. It’s not a label I bestow lightly.

Last Battle Of Two Old White Men

I could continue to extol her virtues and lament her departure from the presidential race. But let’s face it. She’s out and that’s the political and cultural reality we’re dealing with in the United States in 2020.

My hope is that she will be savvy in utilizing the political clout she’s garnered. I like to think everything happens for a reason. And even though we are now being treated to what will hopefully be the last battle of two old white men for the Democratic nomination (and then an eerily similar, but unquestionably uglier, battle into the fall for the actual presidency), I do believe EW can be a significant unifying force.

Her endorsement has the potential to make a dramatic difference in shaping the perception of what the Democrats both aspire to accomplish and have the actual ability to achieve if they succeed in unseating DT.

“I Miss My Mom and Daddy”

There are a lot of just plain old human reasons I like Elizabeth Warren, too. One of those being her feistiness (“Nevertheless, she persisted,”) and another being what I perceived as her genuinely good-hearted and honest-to-goodness ‘family values’ nature.

Nothing exemplified that more for me than a clip I saw of a portion of her actual announcement that she was withdrawing from the race. While she answered lots of questions, obviously, about her decision, someone also managed to get a question in about how it felt to be in the voting booth on Tuesday and see her name on the ballot for President of the United States.

Her answer? “I think my Mama and Daddy would’ve been proud.” And then she followed up with “I miss my Mom and Daddy.”

This from a 70 year old woman who is the first female United States Senator from Massachusetts, and who is also a mother and grandmother herself. I found it incredibly endearing that she wished her parents were here to share that moment of looking at a ballot and seeing their girl’s name on the ballot – for President.

We missed our chance to elect someone eminently qualified to bring about systemic change from within, with a particular emphasis on rooting out corruption and giving everyone in this country a shot at success. Remember that? It used to be called The American Dream.

May she use her hard-earned political capital to persist in making true change in our country on behalf of all of us.

(T-631)