Within hours and possibly minutes I expect the president will name Elizabeth Warren
to lead the new consumer protection agency, and if he does, the Democratic base
will erupt and turn out to vote in far greater numbers than any current poll suggests.
I could be wrong; Obama might give up at the last minute, which would be the last
betrayal of the Democratic base and very possibly the death knell of the Democratic
House of Representatives. But if he names Warren, the pundits be will amazed, astonished
and flabbergasted by the lift this would give to the Democratic base and by the
voter turnout that would follow.
If Obama names Warren, consumers would have the strongest possible friend fighting
for them all day, every day, at a time of major consumer rip-offs and disastrous
consumer confidence that would be lifted with the Warren selection.
If Obama names Warren, veterans and military families who have endured rip-offs
and abuses would have the strongest possible friend with Elizabeth Warren.
If Obama names Warren, small business would have the strongest possible ally as
she champions fair treatment by small business that has been a piñata being abused
by large financial institutions.
If Obama names Warren, the momentum in the campaign would shift powerfully and immediately,
with a rejuvenated Democratic base excited and fighting trim, ready to roll, ready
to fight, ready to erupt with support that the selection of Warren would inspire.
Warren should be nominated through a recess appointment, not a nomination that would bring a unified Republican filibuster in the tired Kabuki dance that the American people, and the progressive base, have suffered from for far too long.
The Democratic base is dispirited and tired, but the Warren nomination would rally them beyond the imagination of the most cynical pundits and politicians.
This campaign is in the ninth inning, the bases are loaded, and if the president hits the ball out of the park and names Elizabeth Warren, it will be the single most powerful inflection point in many months, to the Democrats' advantage, and change the campaign of 2010 to a rousing fight to the finish that could well save the Democratic House of Representatives.
