A controversy over her claim to Native American heritage had even some admirers calling on her to bow out of the presidential race. But she has a long track record as a fighter.
Desperate to oust an incumbent president whom many regard as racist, Democrats have been moving swiftly to condemn any insensitivity within their own ranks – part of a burgeoning reckoning on racism that’s being compared to the MeToo movement. In this new climate, the controversy over Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claims to Native American heritage have undercut her position as a 2020 frontrunner, not to mention as someone who has fought for decades to help the most vulnerable in America, including minorities.
A Boston Globe editorial said Senator Warren had “missed her moment” in 2016. Even in her neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass., some who laud her work as a senator say they wish she would just focus on that role. If there’s one consistent theme in Warren’s life, however, it’s refusing to give up.
As she formally announced her bid for the White House on Saturday, she pointed to surrounding textile mills where, a century ago, a group of women launched a strike that grew to include 20,000 workers and led to one of the nation’s first minimum wage laws. “These workers – led by women – didn’t have much,” she said. “Nevertheless… they persisted!”
America is a country of second chances.
Bankruptcy tests that principle, Elizabeth Warren once told a Harvard law student of hers. “Bankruptcy is about how our system treats people when they lose everything,” she said, when he asked her why she chose to study one of the most arcane areas of the law.
He was the scion of one of America’s most storied political families, she the daughter of a janitor father who suddenly fell ill and a mother who got a minimum-wage job at Sears to keep them afloat.
This weekend, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D) of Massachusetts recounted that story before welcoming his former professor to the stage in Lawrence, Mass., introducing her as “the next president of the United States, Elizabeth Warren” to ebullient cheers from the crowd.
But before Senator Warren can dole out second chances from the White House, she may need one herself.
A torrent of criticism over her claims to Native American heritage – given new life last week with the unearthing of a handwritten 1986 registration card for the Texas bar in which she identified her race as “American Indian” – has generated doubts about her political judgment and viability.
Desperate to oust an incumbent president whom many regard as racist, Democrats have been moving swiftly to condemn any taint of racial or cultural insensitivity within their own ranks, such as Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook photos – part of a burgeoning reckoning on racism that’s being compared to the MeToo movement. In this new climate, Warren’s Native American claims have cast a pall over her nascent campaign, undercutting her position as a 2020 frontrunner, not to mention as someone who has fought for decades to help the most vulnerable in America, including minorities.
Democrats are “doing a lot of soul-searching,” says Steve Jarding, a Democratic consultant and professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, adding that the party needs a candidate who lives up to its values. “But you can’t be too severe in the other direction either…. I can find a saint – but if the saint is a horrible candidate, the saint isn’t going to win.”
An op-ed in The Sacramento Bee, while lauding Warren’s smarts and unapologetic progressivism, called the Native American controversy a “devastating scandal for a campaign, with questions of character wrapped in explosive racial issues.” Democratic strategist Mike Feldman tweeted that “it’s hard to overstate how much damage Warren has done to herself in the invisible primary,” the behind-the-scenes contest for money, staff, and flattering media coverage in the run-up to next year’s primary elections.
