Is Elizabeth Warren the Democrats' Secret Weapon?

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Can one mild-mannered Harvard law professor help the Democrats avoid an electoral calamity this November? It's possible. The person I have in mind is Elizabeth Warren.

Elizabeth Warren, Chairwoman of the TARP bailout Congressional Oversight Panel in her office, 12/01/08. (photo: Jodi Hilton/NYT)

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+1 # Guest 2010-03-13 10:40

Unfortunately, Wall St. firms and other banks and financial corporations fund legislators of both parties generously. As an academic, Elizabeth Warren can afford to speak honestly about the CFPA "with teeth" she envisions being in our families' interest, as opposed to the interests the other side is supporting. Will House and Senate Democrats see their choice so clearly? Perhaps for those not facing election this fall, their hindsight of the healthcare wars may blur, not improve, their vision.

+12 # Guest 2010-03-13 11:49

I'm sorry, but if there's a Dem bloodbath come Nov, & if Obama ends up being only a one-term pres come 2012, it will not be the Repubs' fault, but that of the Dems. They are their own worst enemies. In the beginning, if Obama did not support the TARP bill as it was written without any conditions, restrictions, rules, or any enforceable oversight, & if he did not pressure his fellow Dems into voting for the abortion, the TARP Bill would not have passed as is, & the Dems would have been heroes to the American people. If the TARP Bill money went to the troubled home owners instead of bailing out the banksters, the Dems would have been heroes. If, in the very beginning, when Obama & the Dems had the greatest political capital, they immediately passed a healthcare Bill with a strong & robust public option without any BS by the Repubs, & if Obama & the Dems would have repealed the Patriot Act & the Military Commissions Act & the FISA Bill, they would now be heroes.

+4 # Guest 2010-03-13 12:19

the Democrats have made misstep after misstep since Obama's first day in office. but they are consistent in their missteps. Every one of those missteps have been on the side of conservatism, on the side of corporatism.

So why would we be surprised that the Republicans aren't afraid to play their childish games? The D's stand to lose even more than the R's in the election to come, when people realize how badly they have been hoodwinked.

We need to dump both parties from power, dry up the milk for the corporations and lobbyists and take back our government.

+5 # Guest 2010-03-13 14:26

With Chris Dodd sheparding this bill why would anyone expect it to be a strong bill. Dodd received more money from the banking industry than almost any other politician over the years.

+4 # Guest 2010-03-13 14:26

I wonder if it's time to form the Public Option Political Party?

+5 # wilwon3 2010-03-13 14:59

I think most Americans would like the idea of the CFPA and think that Elizabeth Warren would be an excellent choice for chief administrator. Unfortunately, President Obama has done so many things which suggest that he is little more than a sophisticated shill for the banksters and the military-industrial behemoths, that he is likely to be recognized as such by most of those who voted for him. That will likely be reflected in the elections of 2010. One can only wonder how he selected R Emanuel as CoS; why he selected L Summers as chief economist, T Geithner as Secty of Treasury and why he would appear to be unable to respond to external helpful criticism; it would appear that he knows something the public does not about his own motives.

+4 # Guest 2010-03-13 15:31

Kinda of funny - and a sad statement about the corporate Democrats and the limp-wristed Obama Administration - that it takes a woman to have the cojones to get tough with the capitalist pigs gorging at the public trough.

+3 # Guest 2010-03-13 18:00

There is little likelihood of a strong CFPA emerging from whatever Dodd proposes on Monday. There are simply too many senators of both parties who are too beholden to the criminal, er, I mean, corporate gangsters who run this country for there to be any real regulatory limits on corporate American's systematic plundering of us all. The nattering about government interfering with "free enterprise" has been designed by our corporate masters to make them appear to be the victims of the government they own outright. Thus, Boobus Americanus is totally in the dark about how the big buck boys are ripping us off. For those who feel these comments are, ah, intemperate, I suggest viewing Maxed Out, a documentary available from Netflix.

+5 # Guest 2010-03-13 20:07

It really is not surprising that Elizabeth Warren is such a fighter. If only Obama were half the man that she is ! I have nothing but respect for Ms. Warren. President Obama needs to form a CFPA as a stand alone agency, and install Ms. Warren as it's head. I bet things would get done for the American people then. Financial regulation to protect the Consumers must be brought to bear. It must not be watered down to please the mainly Corporate Republicans.
I do not expect much from Sen. Dodd as he is clearly too beholden to too many to be effective, especially in this respect. He is supposedly Retiring. Why is he Retiring ? Is it really so he can spend more time with his young family ?

0 # Guest 2010-03-14 05:18

It is so he can spend the money given him from decades of bribes.

+4 # Guest 2010-03-14 05:16

There is a lot that needs to be done here. With private equity funds financing their buy-outs using the banks. They heap debt on the banks and take cash out leaving weakened companies that often fail; leaving a weakened bank to be once again bailed out. A nice transfer of tax payer money to the richest people in the country for destroying our industry and jobs. No government has touched this thievery since it began in the Raygun administration.

+2 # Guest 2010-03-14 09:22

The Dems will need to be very forceful about defining the narrative, which the Repubs have always been successful at doing. You know they will define the CFPA as just another example of "government control over people's lives." Can you say "socialism"?

+3 # Guest 2010-03-14 13:12

Anyone who would vote for any GOP candidate is foolish beyond measure. No one can come up with any legislation proposed by the GOP that is of benefit to the bottom 95%. They never have cared about the the bottom 95% and never will. They will extend lip service but nothing else.

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