The downfall of Elizabeth Warren, who announced on Thursday that she was suspending her campaign for president, can be traced back through the Democratic debates.
At the first debate in June, Warren proudly declared: “I’m with Bernie on Medicare for All.” She rose rapidly thereafter as the candidate of “big, structural change.” By the time the October debate rolled around, she was in first place in national polls. But then Mayor Pete Buttigieg hit her with what proved a devastating punch.
“Your signature, senator, is to have a plan for everything. Except this,” Buttigieg said at the debate, after Warren refused to explain how she would fund Medicare for All.
In the days that followed, she released a plan to fund her single-payer health-care proposal. Many critics pointed out that, even with drastic tax hikes, the numbers still didn’t add up. This put her in a bind: She didn’t want to bleed any more of her relatively moderate supporters to Buttigieg, and she realized she couldn’t get to the left of the avowedly socialist Sanders. In mid-November, she retreated on Medicare for All, pledging that she wouldn’t push the matter during her first two years in office, the time when a president typically has the most political capital to spend. By the end of the month, half of her supporters nationwide had abandoned her.
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See Also:
(1) In the End, Warren Was Undone by Her Own Dishonesty
(2) Democrats should be wary of backing Joe Biden and his ‘senior moments’
(3) If Bloomberg Couldn’t Buy 2020, How Could Russia Buy 2016?
(4) Trump: Warren Ruined Super Tuesday for Bernie
(5) Woe is Elizabeth Warren’s staff after their candidate bails
