timosman
01-28-2017, 01:43 AM
http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/op_ed/2017/01/reed_warren_under_fire_from_all_sides
Colin Reed Friday, January 27, 2017
Mysterious $1.3M credit line fits her lack of transparency
It’s quickly becoming the winter of her discontent for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. No matter which direction she looks, she faces political headaches.
From the right, a fresh barrage of stories broke this week about the mysterious $1.3 million line of credit on her Cambridge home, a development first reported by the Boston Herald in 2015. For two years in a row, Warren failed to list it on the financial disclosure form all senators complete each year.
The purpose of the line of credit remains murky, and Warren’s staff claims she is not required by law to report it. But that hasn’t stopped the Massachusetts Democrat from hypocritically demanding the highest levels of ethics from President Trump’s Cabinet appointees. Writing in The Washington Post last week, Warren declared, “It is critical that each nominee follows basic ethics rules to ensure that they will act for the benefit of all the American people.”
Transparency has never been a hallmark of the former Harvard Law School professor. Throughout her political career, she has been dogged by lingering questions about a number of controversies, including her employment status at Harvard, her work as a corporate lawyer and her real estate holdings in Oklahoma.
Her own vulnerabilities, however, have never stopped her from casting stones at others.
From the center, Warren was handed an alarming set of poll numbers from WBUR about her 2018 re-election prospects. The data showed that 46 percent of Massachusetts voters surveyed thought it was time to “give someone else a chance.” Only 44 percent thought she deserved re-election.
The president of the polling group cited Warren’s lack of “bipartisan appeal” for the drag on her numbers. Along with transparency, bipartisanship has never been a strength of Warren’s. Even as she won her Senate seat by nearly eight points overall in 2012, she ran 16 points behind then-President Obama. She lost 41-59 percent among the all-important independent voting bloc, according to exit polls from CNN.
Unlike 2012, Warren won’t have a Democratic president atop the ticket in 2018 to bring out voters.
Immediately following her election, Warren seemed to recognize her weakness among centrists by extending a verbal olive branch to the independent voters who make up 53 percent of the Massachusetts electorate. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the day after her election, she declared, “I’ll work with anyone, and I really do mean that. Democrat, Republican, independent, Libertarian, contrarian, vegetarian, I don’t care.” On “CBS This Morning,” she said, “I want to go to Washington because I want to help get something done.”
Instead, Warren has operated at the far left fringe of the Democratic Party, winning the hearts of grassroots activists who identify more closely with the socialism of a Bernie Sanders than centrism. She has become a star on MSNBC and gotten attention for grandstanding at countless Senate committee hearings. But the list of tangible accomplishments on behalf of her constituents is minuscule.
Even Warren’s support among liberals was put to the test this week. Days after the WBUR poll, Warren again tried to score some bipartisan points by announcing her support for Dr. Ben Carson to become the next housing and urban development secretary.
Her supporters were having none of it, and the backlash was swift and unsparing. A headline from the reliably pro-Warren Daily Kos blared, “ ‘The Resistance’ crumbles: Warren Approves Carson.” Hours later, Warren was forced to post a defensive 488-word Facebook explanation attempting to calm her enraged supporters.
The Democratic Party is in tatters right now, leaderless and divided on the path forward. It’s clear Warren is intrigued by the idea of filling the power vacuum. Her name is at the top of every list of potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
But the political road is littered with the stories of candidates who set their eyes on higher office and overlooked the race directly in front of them. Warren would be wise to learn from their mistakes and address the problems she faces today before looking too far ahead.
Colin Reed Friday, January 27, 2017
Mysterious $1.3M credit line fits her lack of transparency
It’s quickly becoming the winter of her discontent for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. No matter which direction she looks, she faces political headaches.
From the right, a fresh barrage of stories broke this week about the mysterious $1.3 million line of credit on her Cambridge home, a development first reported by the Boston Herald in 2015. For two years in a row, Warren failed to list it on the financial disclosure form all senators complete each year.
The purpose of the line of credit remains murky, and Warren’s staff claims she is not required by law to report it. But that hasn’t stopped the Massachusetts Democrat from hypocritically demanding the highest levels of ethics from President Trump’s Cabinet appointees. Writing in The Washington Post last week, Warren declared, “It is critical that each nominee follows basic ethics rules to ensure that they will act for the benefit of all the American people.”
Transparency has never been a hallmark of the former Harvard Law School professor. Throughout her political career, she has been dogged by lingering questions about a number of controversies, including her employment status at Harvard, her work as a corporate lawyer and her real estate holdings in Oklahoma.
Her own vulnerabilities, however, have never stopped her from casting stones at others.
From the center, Warren was handed an alarming set of poll numbers from WBUR about her 2018 re-election prospects. The data showed that 46 percent of Massachusetts voters surveyed thought it was time to “give someone else a chance.” Only 44 percent thought she deserved re-election.
The president of the polling group cited Warren’s lack of “bipartisan appeal” for the drag on her numbers. Along with transparency, bipartisanship has never been a strength of Warren’s. Even as she won her Senate seat by nearly eight points overall in 2012, she ran 16 points behind then-President Obama. She lost 41-59 percent among the all-important independent voting bloc, according to exit polls from CNN.
Unlike 2012, Warren won’t have a Democratic president atop the ticket in 2018 to bring out voters.
Immediately following her election, Warren seemed to recognize her weakness among centrists by extending a verbal olive branch to the independent voters who make up 53 percent of the Massachusetts electorate. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the day after her election, she declared, “I’ll work with anyone, and I really do mean that. Democrat, Republican, independent, Libertarian, contrarian, vegetarian, I don’t care.” On “CBS This Morning,” she said, “I want to go to Washington because I want to help get something done.”
Instead, Warren has operated at the far left fringe of the Democratic Party, winning the hearts of grassroots activists who identify more closely with the socialism of a Bernie Sanders than centrism. She has become a star on MSNBC and gotten attention for grandstanding at countless Senate committee hearings. But the list of tangible accomplishments on behalf of her constituents is minuscule.
Even Warren’s support among liberals was put to the test this week. Days after the WBUR poll, Warren again tried to score some bipartisan points by announcing her support for Dr. Ben Carson to become the next housing and urban development secretary.
Her supporters were having none of it, and the backlash was swift and unsparing. A headline from the reliably pro-Warren Daily Kos blared, “ ‘The Resistance’ crumbles: Warren Approves Carson.” Hours later, Warren was forced to post a defensive 488-word Facebook explanation attempting to calm her enraged supporters.
The Democratic Party is in tatters right now, leaderless and divided on the path forward. It’s clear Warren is intrigued by the idea of filling the power vacuum. Her name is at the top of every list of potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.
But the political road is littered with the stories of candidates who set their eyes on higher office and overlooked the race directly in front of them. Warren would be wise to learn from their mistakes and address the problems she faces today before looking too far ahead.