Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared on David Axelrod’s Axe Files on CNN. After Axelrod pointed out that many rank-and-file Democrats believe Elizabeth Warren is too far left, Reid came to her defense in an odd manner.
Harry Reid likely has it wrong with Elizabeth Warren
Reid said that Warren asked for his thoughts on Medicare for All. He said he told her he believed they should shore up Obamacare. After all, he said, they had come close to the Public Option before.
While Harry Reid did not say what her response was, he said that he knows she is pragmatic. I find it interesting that he believes the Public Option is as good as Medicare for All and that the Public Option stance is pragmatic.
I do not think anyone needs to be concerned with regards to Elizabeth Warren’s Progressive bona fides. She may use rhetoric that seems much less straightforward than Bernie Sanders. Based on the values she expounds, it is clear that they land in the same vicinity.
Is she pragmatic? Of course, she is. Being pragmatic does not negate one’s core beliefs. It may define a different path to get to the same place. Is her definition of accountable capitalism plus her myriad of social policy prescriptions anathema to Bernie Sanders’ Democratic Socialism? The purist would say it is. I beg to differ.
As long as America is a democracy there is likely to live a coexistence. What we must fight for is for more active development of the social portion. In other words, more cooperatives and fewer capital sucking corporations.