The Talking Points Memo article, Elizabeth Warren On Daily Show: Washington Must Fight For The Middle Class, pointed me to the videos below:
Elizabeth Warren Extended Interview Pt. 1
Elizabeth Warren describes the role that she thinks the government should play in regulating America’s private sector, in this unedited, extended interview.
Elizabeth Warren Extended Interview Pt. 2
If the embedded videos above do not play for you, the following links work around the bugs in MTV’s serving of these videos. Part 1 and Part 2.
I would give my eyeteeth if this were the Elizabeth Warren that is running for Senator in Massachusetts. The one we do have running seems to have watered down her message so as not to offend any voters. As Jon so aptly put it, her professional handlers have sucked all the life out of her.
The point that Jon made, that went over Elizabeth’s head, is that the Democrats have to do a much better job educating the public on why we must do what the Democrats are proposing. She did not answer his question about why we don’t better explaining the benefits of the programs we have managed to get done. She did not answer the question about what is wrong with Ron Paul’s idea that taking all the power away from the government would prevent the capture of regulatory agencies by those they are supposed to regulate.
I agree that big government can be a problem for all the reasons that Ron Paul enumerates. However, if we are going to have big business, and unregulated markets mean we are going to have big business, then big government is our only hope of keeping the free market honest. If we have to have big government, which I just said we have to have, then we need to figure out how to make it work. Electing politicians who say, “Big government does not work, and if you elect us, we will prove it.” is not the way to solve the problem.
Would private industry hire managers who said, “Big business does not work, and if you hire us, we will prove it?”
Private industry hires and the voters should elect people that say, “Managing a large operation with a big budget is difficult, but if you choose me, I will show you that it can be done. If I fail to do the job, then get rid of me.”
The other thing that a President has to say is, “If you hire me, but put in place a Congress that will thwart every move I try to make, then I will surely fail.”
My fight with Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is over her need to educate the voters on why we must do things that she proposes. I tell them to use videos like this on her web site and facebook page. They argue that to do this might offend some voters. They ignore my statement that if she is be an effective Senator when she gets elected, then a very large majority of the people who voted her in must be strong and vocal backers of these proposals that she is making. In her campaign she needs to start the process of inoculating the voters against the huge lobbying effort that the big corporations will wage against all of her proposals. After the election is no time to disclose to the voters what it is she really wants to do.
If her opposition thinks that they can ridicule her ideas, then they are going to do it in the campaign itself. If she can see it coming, she needs to take steps to prevent it. Reacting to it after it happens will not be as effective.
This is exactly the message I gave to John Kerry with regard to the swift boat attacks during his presidential run. Not listening to my message got him roundly defeated.
