Clinton’s ties to the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party could spell trouble for a presidential run.
Photo Credit: TWP/Wikimedia Commons
November 11, 2013
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The press seems to have anointed Hillary Clinton as the
next Democratic presidential nominee. But Clinton’s ties to the Wall
Street wing of the party could prove trouble for her future. Could
Elizabeth Warren, the progressive Senator from Massachusetts, thwart
what seems to be the inevitable?
Warren could tap into a growing sense among younger
Democratic voters that the time has come to punish Wall Street for its
misdeeds and address income inequality. Clinton is decidedly not the
candidate to do that.
Clinton’s tied to the Robert Rubin-school of Democrats that
President Obama has thrown his lot in. That school raises money from
Wall Street donors and shies away from threats of using the courts to
prosecute bankers who committed crimes. Clinton’s worker at the Clinton
Foundation depends on, in part, the largesse of those Wall Street
donors.
Warren is miles away from that posture. She has made a
name for herself by taking on Wall Street and the banks. She was the
one who pushed for a Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, which
big-money vociferously objected to. And Scheiber notes that the victory
of Bill de Blasio in New York City’s mayoral election is an indication
of the way the wind is blowing in the Democratic Party: to the left.
Of course, a Clinton nomination would be formidable to go
up against. Scheiber writes that if the Clinton machine doesn’t shift
left on economic issues, Warren will have an opening. But Clinton could
attack Warren on other issues, like foreign policy.
Scheiber’s reporting, though, indicates that Warren won’t
be afraid of Clinton. “She has an immense—I can’t put it in words—a
sense of destiny,” a former Warren aide told The New Republic. “If
Hillary or the man on the moon is not representing her stuff, and her
people don’t have a seat at table, she’ll do what she can to make sure
it’s represented.”
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