Elizabeth Warren has had one stock answer to questions about whether she might run for president, and it boils down to the word "No." As in, "No, I'm not running for president."
In a new interview with People magazine, she trots out a new line:
She just doesn't see the door of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue being one of them. Not yet, anyway. "Right now," Warren says, "I'm focused on figuring out what else I can do from this spot" in the U.S. Senate.
I think the odds are still against a Warren bid, but day after day of hearing supporters beg you to run has a way of changing a person's mind. In Warren's case, it has pretty clearly had an effect already, and the slight bit of encouragement she now offers to the idea will only compound the pressure.
I hope she does run. That doesn't mean I'd vote for her -- at this point, there's too much I don't know about her thinking on any number of issues, about how she responds under pressure, about what kind of team she can put together. But on economic issues, she has a unique ability to comprehend what's going on and then to communicate that understanding in stark, accurate terms. She has a voice on those issues that needs a bigger microphone, a voice that could force others vying for national leadership to address those issues as well.
At the moment, the economic debate is being conducted within very tight and politically safe parameters. We need somebody capable of breaking out of that box, someone who will say things that others may not be willing to say or even think. That in itself would be doing a great service to the country.
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