US Senator Elizabeth Warren offered an impassioned endorsement of former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday, symbolically unifying the Democratic Party behind the presumptive nominee and giving voters a rousing preview of what could be a historic joint ticket.
Throwing clasped hands high in the air, the two women promised to “go big” and “go bold” to level the playing field for frustrated and angry workers.
“I’m here today because of her,” said Warren, a champion of the party’s liberal base, before 2,600 cheering supporters at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. “We’re here to fight side-by-side with Hillary Clinton.”
Photo: Reuters
The picture-perfect image marked an important moment of party unity after Clinton’s long-fought primary against liberal challenger Bernie Sanders, who has not yet endorsed his former rival and with the Massachusetts senator under consideration to be Clinton’s running mate, it might also be a harbinger of the party’s future.
Warren showed how she could play the role as an attacker-in-chief against Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling him a “small, insecure money-grubber,” “a nasty man” and “goofy.”
An unprecedented two-woman ticket would electrify the party’s liberal wing, boosting enthusiasm for Clinton’s campaign as she continues to face high unfavorable ratings.
Warren could also help Clinton combat the perception that the multimillionaire former first lady is disconnected from the struggles of US workers — an image encouraged by Sanders during his campaign.
Her arm over Warren’s shoulder, Clinton lavished praise on the progressive icon, whom she called a “friend” and a “great leader.”
“She is considered so terrific, so formidable, because she tells it like it is,” Clinton said.
Warren then returned the compliment.
“She just remembers who really needs someone on their side, and she gets up and keeps right on fighting for the people who need her the most,” Warren said of Clinton.
The two women have never been close, aides said, who noted they did not overlap in the US Senate and worked in different corners of the Obama administration. Clinton served as secretary of state, while Warren helped establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
At times, their relationship has seemed almost frosty. Warren wrote in a 2004 book that as a senator from New York, Clinton “could not afford such a principled position” on legislation that would make it harder for consumers to relieve their debt through bankruptcy laws. She also implied that Clinton was short-tempered and impatient with her staff.
There was little of that distance on Monday. They repeatedly hugged, smiled and threw their fists in the air.
Together, they criticized Trump, casting him as a small-minded, self-interested billionaire who would destroy the nation’s economy.
“Donald Trump is the guy who wants it all for himself, and watch out, because he will crush you into the dirt to get whatever he wants,” Warren said.
Warren has taken his hits in return: He blasted her as “Pocahontas,” Republicans claim that Warren fabricated Native American ancestry to help boost her legal career. Warren says she never used her background for unfair advantage.
“Crooked Hillary is wheeling out one of the least productive senators in the US Senate, goofy Elizabeth Warren, who lied on heritage,” Trump tweeted on Monday.
Later, he called her “a racist” and “a fraud,” in an interview with NBC News.
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