Skip to main content

When Biden wanted Warren as his VP to lure anti-establishment Leftist voters


An interesting article from Politico back in 2016, depicts almost perfectly some of the tactics and theatrics in the US political scene. The article describes the time when Joe Biden was thinking the possibility to run for the US presidency and he wanted Elizabeth Warren for the position of the Vice President.

What's most impressive, is that the article essentially reveals that the typical neoliberal "dinosaur" of the Democratic party, was hoping to approach the progressive movement (which is translated to progressive votes), by choosing Elizabeth Warren as his VP. It was, therefore, a pure tactical move to lure progressives, who were fed up with the corporate Democrats and their "business us usual" neocon/neoliberal agenda.

The highlighted parts are quite characteristic:

Joe Biden took months to decide he wouldn’t run for president — but he was sold on Elizabeth Warren as his running mate from the start, people familiar with the situation told POLITICO. And he still thinks the Massachusetts firebrand would be Hillary Clinton’s best choice to replace him as the nation’s No. 2 in January 2017.

Biden, a stalwart Democrat who has veered leftward in recent years — but, as a centrist senator, voted to scuttle the Glass-Steagall prohibitions on banks engaging in speculative investments — favored Warren because he needed a partner to capture the wave of anti-bank, anti-establishment anger raging to his left.

Warren, a freshman senator from Massachusetts, who supports breaking up the big banks and re-imposing 1930s-era Wall Street regulations to prevent another global financial crisis, was Biden’s “only real choice,” according to an official he spoke to at the time. 

Biden — who told an interviewer on Tuesday that he considered running for president because he believed he was “the best” person for the job — took his hat out of the ring in late October 2015, citing the stresses on his family following the death of his son Beau.

[...]

Biden, according to a person briefed on details of the meeting, told Warren he wanted her to be his running mate “during the conversation” but didn’t explicitly ask her to commit to the slot or endorse his candidacy. Warren, the person told POLITICO, was “noncommittal” but “not displeased.”

[...]

As a senator, Biden, like Clinton, had supported a 2001 bankruptcy bill that Warren vehemently opposed; her advice to Biden was that, to appeal to the left, he would need to start talking right away about Wall Street reform. [...] progressives have begun pitching Warren as a possible Clinton vice presidential pick to heal the divisions between the center and left of the Democratic Party after the protracted duel between Clinton and Sanders.



A first conclusion, is that Warren was the farthest to the Left the establishment Democrats were willing to go, and only as a VP to a neoliberal centrist like Clinton, or Biden. There was no chance to let Sanders get close even to the Vice Presidency, despite his great popularity.

A second conclusion, is that the establishment of the Democratic party was recognizing that the progressive wing was enjoying an increasing popularity. And therefore, there was a non-negligible danger to take over a party. That's why Warren was probably the best solution in order to relief the pressure from the Left and, at the same time, maintain connections with the wealthy corporate donors.

It seems that Warren had the chance to prove her loyalty to the establishment in several cases the last four years. And therefore, it would not be a surprise to see Biden pick her as his VP for the oncoming US presidential battle against Trump.

And it will be done again only as a pure tactical move in order to lure the most moderate of the progressive voters. Those who may find more difficult this time to compromise with the Democratic establishment, by giving their vote to a typical neoliberal centrist, just only to avoid four more years of Trump.

It is certain that Trump's terrible response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic in the US, revived corporate Democrats' hopes for a victory in November, even under Biden's leadership. Let alone Trump's even more terrible response to the murder of George Floyd.

Yet, their expectations may be proved pretty over-optimistic.

First, because when the whole thing will cool down (and assuming that we will not see another major event that will put Trump in the corner), Biden will become the easiest "prey" in the hands of ruthless Trump.

Second, because it seems that most of the progressive voters are really fed up with the dirty tactics of the Democratic party. The DNC propaganda mechanisms are mobilized again to make progressive voters appear responsible in case of a second Trump term. Essentially, the DNC is blackmailing them to vote for Biden.

However, progressives are determined to abandon the corrupted Democratic party and push for a third grassroots independent party. Some of them think the Greens as the only alternative for now, but to vote someone like Biden is out of question, even if that means four more years of Trump.

And as it is now clear where Elizabeth Warren really stands, Biden's tactics to put her in the VP position in order to lure progressives, will blatantly fail.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

F-35s & AI Chips: How MBS Outplayed Washington & Beijing

GVS Deep Dive  Saudi Arabia just secured two of the most powerful assets in modern geopolitics: the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter and tens of thousands of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips. Washington hoped this would pull Riyadh firmly back into the American orbit. But the outcome is something neither side fully expected: Mohammad bin Salman outplayed both Washington and Beijing — and used the great-power rivalry to his advantage.

Greece, Palestine & Zionism: FPTV Reports from Athens

Free Palestine TV   Laith Marouf & Rabih Ghannam travel to Athens, Greece, and take a walking tour with local activists Evan Katsounis and Maria Kosmidi, to discover the rich history of anti-Zionist and anti-Fascist actions in the city, as well as the current Zionist incursion into the property sector and the counter actions directed at the presence of these War Criminals on the streets of the city. 

Trump BLEW IT: Israel, Candace Owens & Epstein BURY MAGA (But Not How You Think)

Danny Haiphong   Trump has bent the knee to Israel for the last time. Patrick Henningsen exposes his horrid record and all the elements that has led to his rapidly coming collapse. 

Trump RUINED: Israel First Lies & Economic Freefall Just ENDED MAGA

Danny Haiphong   Tucker Carlson isn't the only journalist breaking with Trump. In this video, Patrick Henningsen goes scorched earth on Trump's massive betrayal of what he promised his "MAGA" base and blows the lid off how his massive lies serve as a cover up for a much bigger structural problem in America's 'Israel First' political system, what Tucker and major voices in elite MAGA won't tell you.  

Capitalism & Genocide - Yanis Varoufakis Speech at the Gaza Tribunal, 23rd October 2025, Istanbul

Yanis Varoufakis   On 23rd October, Yanis Varoufakis testified in front of the Jury of Conscience in the context of the Gaza Tribunal. His speech focused on the economic forces underpinning the genocide of the Palestinian people. In particular, he spoke on the manner in which capitalist dynamics have historically fuelled the white settler colonial project and, more recently, how the accumulation of a new form of capital - which he calls cloud capital - has accelerated, deepened and amplified the economic forces powering and propelling the machinery of genocide. 

Varoufakis: IT technologies will overthrow Capitalism

globinfo freexchange The former Greek Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, ended his recent speech on the Future of Capitalism, at the New School, New York, with some interesting remarks. As he said: The world we live in, is increasingly rudderless, in a constant slow burning recession, while at the very same time, the increasing concentration in the IT sector is creating the new technologies that will do that which the Left has failed to do: overthrow Capitalism. It is really very simple. The moment machines pass the Turing test properly, and you pick up the phone and you do not know whether the person you are talking to is a human being or a machine ˙ the moment we are going to have 3D printers operating as public utilities - you can send any blueprint to it and it can print from one pin to a motorcycle, or to a car - the moment that this happens, we have not just a process of Schumpeterian creative destruction, but we have a process where economies of sc...

Racing Extinction

suggested by failedevolution.blogspot 18th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Scientists predict that humanity’s footprint on the planet may cause the loss of 50% of all species by the end of the century. They believe we have entered the sixth major extinction in Earth’s history, following the fifth great extinction which took out the dinosaurs. Our era is called the Anthropocene, or “Age of Man,” because evidence shows that humanity has sparked a cataclysmic change of the world’s natural environment and animal life. Yet, we are the only ones who can stop the change we have created. The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), the group behind the Academy Award-winning film The Cove, is back with a new groundbreaking documentary. Joined by new innovators, this highly charged, impassioned collective of activists brings a voice to the thousands of species teetering on the very edge of life. The director has crafted an ambitious mission to clearly and artfu...

Trump Welcomes Syrian Leader & “REFORMED” TERRORIST To White House!

The Jimmy Dore Show   President Donald Trump is planning a White House welcome for Syria’s new president, former al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was installed after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. Jimmy Dore argues that the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, have long funded extremist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda to serve foreign policy interests in the Middle East, so the embrace of al-Sharaa makes sense, even if it might confuse anyone who thought we took seriously the so-called “War on Terror.” He and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger contrast Trump’s willingness to meet with alleged terrorists to his refusal to engage in dialogue with leaders like Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, accusing U.S. policy of hypocrisy and imperialism.  

A response to misinformation on Nicaragua: it was a coup, not a ‘massacre’

There is so much misinformation in mainstream corporate media about recent events in Nicaragua that it is a pity that Mary Ellsberg’s article for Pulse has added to it with a seemingly leftish critique. Ellsberg claims that recent articles, including from this website, often “ paint a picture of the crisis in Nicaragua that is dangerously misleading. ” Unfortunately, her own article does just that. It looks at the situation entirely from the perspective of those opposing Daniel Ortega’s government while whitewashing their malevolent behavior and downplaying the levels of US support they have relied on. Her piece is an incomplete depiction of what is happening on the ground, ignoring many salient facts that have come to light and which have been outdated by recent events. The following is a brief response to Ellsberg’s main points from someone who lives in Nicaragua and has observed the situation directly and intimately: https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/08/15/a-res...

Maduro's opening to China

“ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said he hopes Venezuela will use bilateral financing mechanisms and channel more funds to the areas of energy, mining, agriculture and industry while meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.” “ Financing mechanisms between the two countries total more than 50 billion U.S. dollars, according to Venezuelan experts. Financing mechanisms, including the China-Venezuela Fund, have provided financial support for some 256 projects. China and Venezuela upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Xi's visit to Venezuela in 2014, opening a new chapter in bilateral ties.” “ During their meeting, Xi called on the two sides to push bilateral ties to a higher-level. China supports Venezuela's efforts in restructuring its economy and establishing a manufacturing economic model, he said. Xi suggested the two countries push forward cooperation in the fields of oil exploration, infrastru...