IMO, the native american thing isn't much of a problem. Her biggest mistake was in simply not running in 2016. She'll be 71 by the time the election rolls around, and unlike Reagan, she won't have the benefit of 4 years already in office.

At this point, she feels like a retread. An old retread. Not someone who really inspires a GOTV.

I think you're making a mountain out of a blemish, Katie.

Warren is too professorial. The real test she fails is the personality one. Sad, but true.

It really doesn't matter who the Democrats run in 2020, because the GOP, the far-right, and Herr Gropenfuehrer will find all manner of ways to objectify, denigrate, degrade, mock, ridicule, and generally sling horse-shit filled mud at them - and their base will lap it up like charred-beyond-recognition red meat; it's just what they do. If Yeshua Ben Miriam himself returned from the dead and ran for president as a Democrat he'd face literally the same avalanche of defamation from them.

Dead on Katie. Warren is an accomplished person and stands for progressive values, but the muddle created by her "identity," and more precisely, her ham fisted attempts to create an "identity narrative" have made her unelectable. Time to quietly move on, and search for a candidate who will win!

@2 Do you actually read the articles first or just comment? I can never tell.

Taking a DNA test to test for racial purity just doesn't sound like a good idea, you know.

This.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-dont-hate-women-candidates-i-just-hated-hillary-and-coincidentally-im-starting-to-hate-elizabeth-warren

@4 -- what's the false choice?

@10

TRUMP NAZI RUSSIAN ALT-RIGHT RACIST INCEL TRASH AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! 1111111!

This is the only way Herr Sausage can meaningfully interact with society. Please afford him some sympathy.

Unfortunately you are right. Plenty of people would do a better job for all Americans but Americans wont vote for a fuckin nerd. Ask Howard Dean. Even if you killed some Viet Cong with your bare hands we will call you a pussy if you tell people they need to go to school to get a good job. Tammy Duckworth might be enough of a badass to win but only if enough old racists die between now and election day.

@15 I write an article about why Elizabeth Warren should be president and it's "pro-Trump horseshit." You need to read closer, buddy!! And I'm not sure you, in particular, speak for anyone but yourself.

The USA is too backward to elect a woman as president. We need someone as arrogant and obnoxious as potus45 but with brains & integrity concealed by a forceful butch personality so the rednecks, morons and swamp dwellers won't be offended by his intellect.

I love history, don't you? Name me a POTUS that didn't make stupid mistakes and bad judgement calls. Name me a candidate that didn't fling muddy horseshit at their opponent. Name me anyone in the world who wouldn't be forgiven for not being perfect. The POTUS has to be human and not a robot. The POTUS needs to be Humane because believe it or not most people don't want a cruel dictator for their leader. Or I can hope they don't anyway. The sick and tired Americans will need to get someone in that doesn't keep them sick and tired. I will vote for the person that makes more sense to me.

@18 Have you been paying attention?
"Vote for me and I'll piss off the people who think you are a dummy" has proved to be a surprisingly effective campaign promise. Nobody cares about issues anymore.

Katie, if you are correct, and I have no doubt that you might be, it is because the double standard is that the Democrats care deeply about such things and the Republicans don't give a rat's ass. Those with a conscience care about lots of things; those without one care only about themselves.

The problem with punditry is that nobody pays attention to how often they're wrong, let alone fires them when they're never right.

But hey, if you really want to be an oracle, the day after every single candidate announces they're running for president, go on record predicting they'll lose. History will prove you right in almost every case, and the one time you were wrong you'll be forgiven. Nobody's perfect.

And I thought her one mistake that would prevent her from being president was being born female + sexism. Nobody really cares about the DNA test other than the missing y-chromosome... the DNA test was conclusive about that.

@12, @20 agreed.

It’s not a purity test that would cause Warren to lose the primary - it’s the recognition that she decided to engage on her opponent’s field of battle. Trump likes to fight in the mud, and she thought the answer was to take out a garden hose and spray it away. That only makes more mud. Someone like Beto gets that better than Warren, and I hope the rest of the Democratic field is paying attention as well. The only way to beat Donald Trump at his own game is: play a different game.

Even absent Trump, it was an embarrassingly naive and patronizing move, but that’s a general election issue, not a primary one, because the Democrats are great at that sort of thing. They’re wonks, not players, sadly.

Ted Kennedy made just one little mistake, and was never president because of it. It's a curse associated with that particular senate seat.

Katie - thank you for your articles.
I agree with your conclusion, but for different reasons. Trump defines EVERY single narrative! Warren taking the DNA test gave into Trump's narrative about her.
A Biden/Warren ticket in 2016 would have had real currency as a reform ticket.
However, 4 years is an eternity in politics. The Dems risk re-running the 2016 election, to no avail.

This article is spot-on. As much as I agree with Warren's politics, it will be nearly impossible for her to escape being defined by her ancestry faux pas. There were already brutal memes being circulated about her within minutes of the news about her presidential exploratory committee.

Sausage and Trump deserve each other. They're cut from the same clothe, they're both despicable carpetbaggers who'll say anything to prove their dumbfuck point. The only real difference is that Sausage picks up his hookers on Aurora.

@25 you're aware that more Americans voted for Hillary than Trump?

31

Sausage never has a point....he just flap his yap from the safety of hiding behind a keyboard.

Only liberals are held to any sort of standards. That's where we are now.

The right is simply anything goes as long as you blow smoke up the ass of the foolish suicidal orthodoxy of (false) free market and gun fetishization anything else from being a nazi to a pedophile rapist. Maybe wave a flag every once in a while and pretend to attend a church. That's it. It's never been easier to grift the right wing.

You think Katie is wrong? Go ask Howard Dean about “unimportant” gaffes.

I don’t think the DNA test will hurt her with the left, or at least, the sane left. But there’s no pleasing the insane left. No candidate that matches all their woke criteria (if such a person even exists) would be acceptable to independents, and would maybe even keep the moderate left from showing up to the polls in the numbers we have to have to overcome Trump’s base. And that’s the bigger problem with Warren. There are people out there who know Trump is a moron but support him anyway because they like his dumb bullying bullshit and message discipline. We need to flip at least some of those dumbasses (they are primarily in the Midwest), and now that Pocahontas is Warren’s brand (it’s true, despite all that good stuff you detailed here), those idiots will chuckle about it over beers with their dumbass friends and then go pull the lever for Trump again. Very sad, but that’s our country now.

Katie dear, can't we wait a bit before we start the hand-wringing about who will be the candidate? The primaries are still a year off.

I'll vote for whoever is running against Pence. Until then, I'm not interested.

I hate to tell everyone here, but the "Fauxcohantas" thing goes back way before Trump. The Boston press dug into her family tree, and long ago concluded that none of her family stories about being Cherokee even vaguely added up. Her response was that her high cheekbones were proof enough, and besides, it wasn't like WHY Harvard hired me or anything.

She basically sucks (and not just for this fiasco, either). She's one of a number of Democratic "contenders" that Trump would be 100% guaranteed to beat.

She is a fairly strong candidate, but probably not the strongest. She has a lot going for her. She had a middle class upbringing, and had a strong career before becoming a politician. If she can get ahead of the narrative, and define herself as someone who has always fought for consumers, she could do well. She is a bit older, but she is tall and attractive (I know that sounds sexist, but it is important for both male and female candidates).

She is likable as well. My biggest concern is that she comes off as a bit scripted. Early in her career, some of her public appearances were underwhelming. Despite being a professor, she seemed to struggle in front of a large audience. I'm sure she had advisors telling her to change. Unfortunately, as a result, she now often sound artificial. In a personal interview, even on a talk show, she often repeats phrases and paragraphs, as if it is a debate (where that sort of activity is common, and pretty much the only way you can answer the question in the allotted time). A good politician needs to able to do three types of public speaking. First is a big public speech, which is probably the least important. Second is a debate, and third is the personal interview. It is that third type of speaking where Bill Clinton, for example, thrived. So did George W. Bush and Obama. In contrast, Gore really struggled, even though his big speeches and debate performances were great. Kerry was very similar. In a different era, they would have won; but not in the new media age.

I agree that she mishandled the indigenous question, but she could recover quickly if it came down to it. She did grow up in Oklahoma City. It wouldn't take much to explain how she was surrounded by native culture, was told by family members that she was part Native American, and always considered herself a mix. Explain how Oklahoma City is a lot more diverse than people assume, and thus a wonderful place to grow up (you always get bonus points if you stick up for the heartland). If she was more articulate, she could go on about race and ethnicity in America, and how complex it is. But I don't think she is. She is smart enough to probably write something interesting and thoughtful about the subject, but I don't see it being quite as moving as Obama's comments about Reverend Wright. It doesn't take much for America (as stupid as it is) to assume that the politician is a liar, while vote for the liar who "seems like the real deal".

I like her. I would love it if she were President. I think she stands a chance, I just don't think she is the strongest candidate.

"The USA is too backward to elect a woman as president."

Really? We elected a black leader, twice.

Can you name any other western country that's done that?

We know she's not an Indian but is she a woman or simply identify as one?

America isn't electing a woman anytime soon, especially one that would have to run against Trump.

I think you've nailed it Katie. She has a slight whiff of Rachel Dolezal on her now and it isn't just among white people that is unacceptable.
A candidate needs to be totally comfortable in his/her own skin
If you're white you just own it and move on from there and do as much outreach as possible. You certainly don't pretend to be something you're not and then double-down on a second-hand identity.
It is a fatal mistake she has made.
Much as Al Franken's misdemeanor offence had a wildly disproportionate penalty, it is unfair. But there it is.

in 2016 she refused to support bernie sanders and chose the clinton foundation instead...,
for this error warren will never get beyond being a WEAK & INEFFECTIVE SENATOR from massachusets - bought and paid for political whore....

This theater criticism stuff doesn't matter. The outcome of the elections will be determined by events that lie in the future and which are thus beyond our vision. It hardly bears mentioning that 4 years ago today, anybody would have said Trump had a near-0% chance of winning and they would have been right but here we are.

Anybody who has played D&D knows that even 2 up on a D20 isn't a sure thing.

Warren is a great policy person. She's a bad candidate because she has poor charisma, and her poor charisma led to the gaff you highlight. It's a symptom though, not the disease. The disease is poor charisma. She'll get destroyed by Trump on the campaign trail. Senator is her peak. Actually, it's beyond her peak, but circumstances gave her the opportunity and she capitalized.

Shouldn’t your conclusion depend on who else is running and how they compare with Elizabeth Warren in all respects? Or do you suggest that we evaluate candidates one-by-one and dismiss anyone who isn’t perfect? I look forward to reading your column about the candidates who are better than Elizabeth Warren, all things considered.

I don't know if the author is right or not. I am hoping that this time around those of us on the left will leave it to the conservatives to rip our candidates to ribbons, rather than doing the job for them.

Katie, since when is anyone's Native American heritage automatic denial to a U.S. Presidential bid?! Your blatant white-knighting for Trump is pure horseshit, and I second German Sausage and others here calling you on it. I know I am not alone here. I am voting Big D no matter what. I agree with Catalina @37, however, that this is only January 2019 for fuck's sake. In the meantime, I'm more than ready to impeach Trump and Pence, drain their swamp full of raw sewage, scrub, sterilize, and fumigate the White Trash House, and pass a law forbidding stupid RepubliKKKans to ever again vote for the worst possible candidate on Earth.
@2, @10, and @15 German Sausage: Right spot on, agreed, and seconded!
@28: Clutch your pearls, go back to your Panic Room, and lie down, muffy.
@33 Trump_Destroyed_my_braincells: .....said a hopelessly babbling Trump apologist.
@40 oldwhiteguy: Thank you, bless you, agreed, seconded, bravo, and amen!
@45 Alcoholic Haze: Well, I for one am voting to elect a woman the next US President. It's way past high time already.

Correction re @10: Do you actually give a shit about what you report, Katie, or do you just autosave Trump's latest Twitter feed?
@14 Elmer F. Trumptard: STFU already, you pathetic trolling apologist tool.

Only a week ago Rich Smith published here a similar piece about Joe Biden. I sense the trend and I dig the joy of being a serial self-defeating defeatist. Totally.

@54 is in desperate need of friends.

@55 - I'm quite certain that all staffers at The Stranger give a sh#t about their reporting.

Quite an abjectly distraught apologia. Herzog seems absolutely crushed. Warren does some good work, she's worthwhile to have in the Senate, and that's her spot. As a presidential candidate to raise issues? Sure. Actually as President? No. First, she won't beat a Republican. Second, I'm not sure I have confidence in her judgment.

Klobuchar has it, other than a too-mild charisma. Smart, stable, strong, solid, honest, people-friendly, effective in her Senatorial work. Those in combination would be refreshing. Maybe not as progressive as one would prefer, but she can build bridges, she can bring disaffected blue collar and rural former D's home and win over independents in the heartland - where the next election will be won or lost - and most importantly she can beat either Trump or Pence. Or Romney - Romney just put his toe in the water today...

Warren's problem doesn't have anything to do with heritage. Her position on health care is out of what those in the party want as opposed to some centrist compromise. She's not exactly new blood. Her pitches are repetitive talking points with no depth and she's not an inspiring speaker. She's like a female Joe Biden or New England Nancy Pelosi. Having a bunch of septuagenarians lead the next charge is foolhardy.

I don't know that Commandante Bone Spurs will even run in 2020. Sure he'll raise money so he can travel around and be worshipped by his followers until then. He's so miserable now, he can't golf all the time, can't do what he wants, has to make at least an attempt to go to work everyday. I say there's pretty good odds that once he figures out a way to get out with being able to claim a "win" he'll be out the door. Unless he strokes out or has a stress induced heart attack before that...

Good Evening Katie,
A Happy New Year to you.

Again, another fine piece. I do believe you are correct. I don't believe she will get the Democratic nomination in 2020 and it largely will be due to the DNA test disclosure. That was a faux pas. But she just may be too far to the left for even mainstream Democrats as well.

I don't believe Bernie will run. He's now bogged down with allegations of sexual harassment by his staff and he is 74 y/o. Sen. Warren now represents the Left flank of the Democratic party. I simply don't think it can go any farther Left. But the party also suffers from 'identity politics'.

Maybe former Pres. Obama is to blame. I don't mean that in a mean-spirited way. I just finished "Rising Star" by David J. Garrow, the biography of Barack Obama published in 2017. It's a 1080 page tome and had Obama's cooperation.

Quite frankly, Obama whose mother was white can identify as African-American because of salient features. Sen. Warren can not even though she has Native American heritage. She appears white. It's as simple as that. It's problematic. Sen. Kamala Harris of California can claim AA heritage because her father is black AND she has salient features as such. And she can claim South-Asian (I believe her mother is Sri Lankan?) heritage as well but her appearance would trump all that.

So, Sen. Warren is in a conundrum. Hey, I wish her well. But she won't get the nomination.

strange the same people that ignore the Clinton sexual harrasment cover-up that did go directly to the top, are now calling Sanders disqualified in a scandal that clearly did NOT go directly to the top, not even to the Jeff Weaver level.

Elizabeth Warren's greatest electoral challenges will likely not be her gender or the controversy surrounding the DNA test. The Democratic Party of 2019 features many capable, thoughtful representatives, and quite a few will likely vie for their party's presidential nomination. Warren will face stiff competition, and that can be good. Just look at the ethnicity and gender of the incoming Congressional class today. There is lots of hope for this country's future. Let's buck up, build bridges on common ground, get past destructive pettiness, and beat Trump (or Pence). It can be done, and it needs to be done--by Warren or by any number of good, qualified Democratic candidates. None is perfect--but many are loads better than Trump. As for The Stranger, how about chilling a bit with the advice to Biden or the premature despair about Warren's ostensibly doomed candidacy. We can beat Trump, and let's get at it.

@7

It's not a matter of cool, it's a matter of craft.

Politics is theater, and Warren has never taken an acting class. And it's too late. If she took the time now to learn how to hold herself on stage, how to project, how to deliver lines, work a crowd, and so on, it would all come off as horribly fake. She's already exposed herself as a perfectly ordinary person, and that's one thing no American will ever forgive in a politician.

The largest electorate in the US = white, working class, without college degrees. They will decide the election, and if she can reach them, she can win I think.

@51 I believe that Warren is the only Democrat that officially stated that they were running at this time so it would be difficult to compare.

If the left is this "pure" maybe we don't deserve to win the presidency.

Elizabeth Warren is amazing; but the Democrats have a lot of potential candidates who are amazing. And every single one of them will flunk some purity test or the other. We gotta stop eating our own.

@68: You also have to notice how fiercely some party hardliners here are going after the writers of these posts simply for bringing up legitimate challenges and issues the leading Dem candidates are obviously going to have to face.

Imagine how shallow and unthinking you would have to be to equate "This issue is going to be a real problem if Warren gets the nomination" to "Only Trump can and should win the election, all democrats are losers."

Biden's inappropriate and public groping/sniffing of women and children, and Warren's embarrassing and racist DNA test fiasco are going to be real issues that they are going to have to address and overcome, it is simply fact. The GOP is not going to give them passes on this shit, and neither should Dem voters, to be honest.

I think the real problem here is Warren's failure to take Trump on. What did she expect when she took that DNA test? Trump did a victory lap after Obama released his birth certificate. "Trump told reporters in New Hampshire that he is "very proud" of himself for helping to bring about the release of the document. "I've accomplished something nobody else was able to accomplish," Trump said.
Warren sunk to his level, tried to pull a fast one and Charile Brown'd it. That alone tells me she may be the most qualified person for President, but despite her vast intellect she just doesn't know how to take down someone like Trump

Bizarre rants about Katie here. She was clearly supporting Warren on the merits and dissing Trump, just clearly pointing out she has a prominent, embarrassing flaw that may or may not be fatal, but she suspects it is. And it’s a shame, because it’s trivial.

Sorry you felt the need to read the comments, much less add to them, Katie. But keep up the good work. I love your writing and look forward to you challenging the party line whenever it needs it. Keeps it lively!

She's strange. Herky jerky and hard to watch. All that said, Trump will win because the Left will clear the way for him...if you thought Bernie vs Hillary was bad, just wait. The Noam Chomsky/Nikkita Oliver-types are going to come out in force and fuck this shit UP because purity.

Thank God for small blessings... AKA mistakes.

Wow, lot of really negative people on this thread.
If you're going to be a progressive, you need to walk the talk. You can't claim to be a "minority" and get the good vibes / career advancement / liberal adulation / fellow victimization love when you are, in fact, white like rice. It makes one look, well, untrustworthy. Sorry.

Ya all gotta get more woke and let go of your cis-racial biases. She's obviously transitioned from a young white woman to an old Indian woman. you need to respect that. Just because she was assigned "lily white" at birth doesn't mean she's not actually the proud Cherokee she believes she is.

69

Well said, Ted!

So did Katie's dad play banjo in the Rolling Stones?

75

wins.

@57, @58, and @59: Hey, look! Three apologist stooges! No waiting!

@57: If you want a sanctimonious prick, go look in your bathroom mirror, Sporty. I have yet to read any comment of yours that isn't purely chauvinistic tripe. I nominate you as Larry.
@58 Trump_Destroyed_my_brains: Sounds more like you're the one who's desperate. Still trapped in mom's basement? You get appointed Curly.
@59: Sugarlips, I have to disagree for several reasons: obviously you, Sportlandia and Trump_Destroyed_my_brain chose to single me out in this comment thread. Why? For wont of something better to do? Nothing deliciously scandalous momentarily on Twitter? I have read similar comments of yours impugning Stranger staffers about the content of their articles. Pot, meet kettle. As a result, I nominate you as Moe, and enjoy your bowl cut. N'yah N'yah N'yah.

@71 DawginExile: I didn't read anything but 'Warren won't get any presidential nomination for 2020 because she made ONE glaring mistake, blah, blah blah' through most of this article (meanwhile, DJT has been a scandal on an hourly basis and brags about it!). It wasn't until the final paragraph that I found anything by Katie in support of Elizabeth Warren's work and goals as a progressive Democrat.
If nothing else, Katie's article aptly points out that our political system is indeed totally fucked up. Patriarchy needs to be grabbed by the balls and overturned if global change for the better will ever happen at all.

Attention everybody responding to @54, @55, @79 & @80: I'm standing by my comments, dang nab it! Griz doesn't start shit, she ends it.

Lol @81. Look at how triggered our little munchkin grizelda is! You need some cookies and warm milk, sweetheart, to heal your hurt fee-fees? :D.

@82 Dribbling_gooey_flaccid_gook: Which cowardly hashtag are you hiding under? Let me guess: Bring the NHL to Seattle? Seattle Blues? The centritsright? Nothing to do before juvee curfew? How old are you, fourteen? LOL