In the Sanders/Clinton battle for the presidential nomination, Elizabeth Warren stayed on the perimeter. She wasn't quiet, that's for sure. But she was the only woman in the Senate not to endorse Hillary, no doubt frustrating many women. She didn't endorse Bernie, either, making many in the Bern crowd angry. She was threading the needle, as few can do.
Warren has now embraced Hillary, which seems appropriate, and is campaigning aggressively with her. This is accompanied by considerable speculation about whether Hillary has the vision, and perhaps the chutzpah, to step out of her cautiousness and tap Warren to be her vice-president. And Warren has been the chief Twitter thorn in Trump's side—an important job these days.
But beyond the presidential maneuvering, Warren is articulating a brilliant (if not obvious) critique of what ails our economy, and it is not just the banks. As Paul Glastris wrote in the
Washington Monthly, Warren has:
".... extended her critique to the entire economy, noting that, as a result of three decades of weakened federal antitrust regulation, virtually every industrial sector today—from airlines to telecom to agriculture to retail to social media—is under the control of a handful of oligopolistic corporations. This widespread consolidation is 'hiding in plain sight all across the American economy,' she said, and 'threatens our markets, threatens our economy, and threatens our democracy.'"
Glastris thinks the speech could change the election. Time will tell about that, but it is clear Warren has what it takes to challenge the massive problem of inequality, and the way deregulation has so exacerbated the income and wealth gap in America.
But don't take our word for it. Check out the speech below. Warren gave her talk on June 29 at New America’s Open Markets program event in Washington. The presentation had the obvious if slightly wonky title: “Reigniting Competition in the American Economy.” Read the speech or watch the video below.
—Don Hazen, AlterNet executive editor
“Reigniting Competition in the American Economy”: Keynote Remarks at New America’s Open Markets Program Event
