propheticallyrightortragicallywrong?FormanyDemocrats,
herdecisiontothrowcautiontothewindandrunona full-
dressliberal agenda of vaulting ambition—draggingthe
whole partyalongwithher—is boththrillingand scary.
Itoffersthepromiseofanhistoricadvanceanda rebuke
ofTrumpandallthathestandsfor,butcouplesit withthe
possibilitythatvowingtoraisetaxesandeliminateprivate
healthinsurancemightfrightenvotersintodeliveringthe
onethingDemocratsfearmost:fourmoreyearsofTrump.MidnightwasapproachingwhenWarrenandasmall
entouragewanderedintotheMillerTimePub& Grillindown-
townMilwaukeeinmid-July.She’djustfinisheda rallyata
highschool,thengrinnedandchitchattedherwaythrough
a lineofhundredsofpeoplewaitingtohavetheirpicture
takenwithher.Warrendoesthisaftereveryeventaspartof
anOlympiancommitmenttobewarmandapproachable,to
fendoffthechargeof“chillyHarvardprofessor”beforeit can
beuttered.Whenshearrivedatthepub,it tookherseveral
minutesandseveralmoreselfiesbeforeshecouldslideinto
a booth,skipoverthefancycraftbeers,andaskthewaitress,
“DoyouhaveMillerLiteontap?”
Likeherchoiceofbeer,Warren’sstumpspeechis simple,
straightforward—andveryself-aware.It’sanallegoryabout
howgovernmentrescuedherfamilyinhardtimes,thenpro-
videdheropportunitiestoadvance—opportunitiesit nolon-
geroffers.Whenshewasa middleschoolerinOklahoma,
Warren’sfatherhada heartattackandcouldn’twork.Her
parentsfearedlosingtheirhome.Hermother,who’dnever
workedoutsidethehome,gothiredatSears.“Thatminimum
wagejobsavedourhouse—andmoreimportant,it savedour
family,”WarrentoldtheMilwaukeecrowd.
Aftermarryingat 19 andquittingcollegetomovetoTexas,
Warrenfinishedherdegreebyattending“acommutercol-
legethatcost$50a semester.”A fewyearslater,asa young
motherwithanotherchildontheway,shewasabletogradu-
atefroma statelawschoolwithoutrelyingonstudentloans,
andthenwashiredtoteachatanotherone.Thesewerethe
steppingstonesina careerthateventuallyledtoHarvard,the
U.S.Senate,andthepresidentialcampaigntrail.
Thepurposeofthistale,besidessofteningherimageand
establishingherpopulistbonafides,istomakethecase
thatwhilegovernmentonceservedtheneedsofpoorand
middle-class families like her own, by providing a solid min-
imum wage and affordable public schools, it now operates
chiefly in the service of those who are already well off. “When
corporations get so big that they can start to squeeze the gov-
ernment,” she said, “then democracy no longer works.” Her
life’s story, juxtaposed against the much direr options a strug-
gling family faces today, is the windup to her campaign’s dec-
laration of purpose, which she practically shouted across the
Milwaukee high school gymnasium: “We need big, structural
change in this country!”
Warren’s great talent as a politician is her ability to make
her left-wing economic agenda sound like plain commonsense that any ordinary person would agree with. Traveling
with her through Iowa, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin this
year, it was clear she was connecting; voters would nod along
and say afterward they appreciated her diagnosis of what
ails the U.S. economy and her detailed plans to fix it. T-shirts
emblazoned with “Warren Has a Plan for That” were popu-
lar fashion items at her events.
Her speech also offers a clue about her professional and
political success, because it’s the story of someone percep-
tive and capable enough to thrive in every environment she
encountered by studying the rules and figuring out the game.
One of her least recognized attributes may be her skill at get-
tingnoticed.
Warren’s academic careeris celebratedboth for its
commuter-college-to-Harvard trajectory and for her pioneer-
ing work in the field of consumer bankruptcy law. But it’s also
noteworthy that she managed to succeed in two realms at
once—the academy and the broader popular culture.
When Warren began teaching law at the University of Texas
in the early 1980s, most academic research focused on cor-porate bankruptcies. Seeking to explain the spike in personal
bankruptcies, Warren and her partners, Jay Westbrook and
Teresa Sullivan, spent years traveling to courthouses studying
bankruptcy filings. Their conclusion, laid out in their influential
1989 book, As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer
CreditinAmerica, wasthatmostbankruptciesweren’tdriven
bylazyprofligacy,aswascommonlyassumed,butbyfinancial
andmedicalcatastrophesfromwhichrespectablemiddle-class
families simply couldn’t recover.
Professors tend to be poor public salesmen of their own
work. Warren is an exception. At the same time her academic
star was rising, her ability to communicate her ideas to lay audi-
ences won her media exposure and a public profile that vastly
extended the range of her influence. In 2003 she teamed up
with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, to write The Two-
Income Trap, a book aimed at a general readership that caught
the eye of Dr. Phil, who made Warren a repeat guest on his talk
show as an empathetic financial expert and life coach.
Warren’s telegenic flair drew the notice of top Democrats,
who began calling on her to provide congressional testimony.
Her clash with Biden at a 2005 hearing over a bankruptcy bill,
recently resurfaced on social media, was an early glimpse of38
Bloomberg Businessweek July 29, 2019“Democrats are afraid
of Elizabeth Warren.
She has an absolute
veto over certain public-
policy issues”