Elizabeth Warren Confronts the Issue Dragging Her Down

[brooklynite]

New York Times

Ms. Warren covered little new ground that day, talking about “running from the heart” and how “fear doesn’t win.” But on Tuesday night, before a national debate audience and with time running short to reignite her candidacy, Ms. Warren delivered her most emphatic answer to date about her electability: She cited her own electoral success compared to her male opponents and the political gains made by other female candidates, as well as her determination to unify a sometimes fractious Democratic Party.

“That’s my plan,” she said Tuesday night, in an echo of her signature line, “and that is why I’m going to win.”

But the fear, reflecting doubts held by many moderate Democrats, is that the cost and scale of her swelling list of policy plans will scare off voters in the general election, according to interviews with dozens of voters, her own surrogates and endorsers and Democratic officials in the state. Then there are the worries about her ability to unite the party against President Trump as a liberal Democrat, and the sexism she would face from some voters.

If Ms. Warren was once the Democratic candidate to beat in Iowa, lifted by the kinetic energy of her crowds and a sprawling campaign infrastructure that far exceeded those of her rivals, she is now trying to allay the second thoughts that some voters have about her sweeping agenda — especially “Medicare for all” — and how well it would sell against Mr. Trump.

“As more became known about her plans, the original excitement was offset by skepticism about the practicality of her positions,” said Jeff Fager, the Democratic chairman in Henry County in southeastern Iowa.

[LonePirate]

1. The cost does not scare people - change does. They simply do not want those problems solved.

[msongs]

2. incremental changes will work, scaring the hell out of people will not nt

[crazytown]

3. dream small. seek consensus. lose.

[LonePirate]

4. Only stupid people are scared. People who read and learn about it are not scared by it.

If this administration has taught us anything, it is we should not be lead by nor should we listen to stupid people.

[SergeStorms]

7. That's a very irritating thing to say.

The vast majority of Americans don't have the time to study the minutia of MFA, and to have it thrust at them with a 'take it or leave it' attitude is......well, not smart. Tactics such as that are what led to Donald Trump striking a nerve with so many Americans. Want to re-visit that tactic again, do you?

[LonePirate]

9. You must be one of those who prefers the current system. Duly noted.

If people prefer an expensive and broken system that offers zero guarantees of care when they need it, then they deserve to live or die by that sword. You can’t help people who don’t want to help themselves.

[brooklynite]

20. I prefer incremental improvement over moving backward...

...which is what will happen if Trump gets re-elected.

[Perseus]

18. I disagree, we need radical change, otherwise we are going to be stuck with Obamacare until we die

Change in this country is always too slow, the powers that be won't allow change because it implies they have to change which costs them profits and expenses, I understand that, but we either stop wearing flags on our lapel and stop saying "this is the best country in the World", which we know its not, or we go ahead and embrace radical change.

It will require adaptation, but radical change must come, and making education free for all is only going to help us grow as a country and maybe in a few years we will have earned the right to say that in fact "the USA is the best country in the world".

Medicare for all is going to allow us to become a healthier country, a more productive and progressive country because with a Medicare for all will come preventive medicine and better food control, maybe we can stop eliminating some of the processed food that is killing so many people by making them sick. Things must change and they must change fast, any candidate who believes it can't be done should not be running for office, any candidate who believes that people love their insurance should go around and ask more (maybe that person is asking people in the Senate, and sure they love it because they don't pay for it), anyone who is not willing to give it their all to change the way things are should not be considered. If we allow the status quo to remain we can kiss our country and the World goodbye, we are at a milestone historically, we need radical change.

Slow change is not going to get us anywhere. Obama tried to implement a better healthcare system than what he got, and now we have republicans trying to destroy it, well they wanted to destroy it form the start, but now there are lawsuits waiting in the courts to screw what little we gained.

It must be an all or nothing because the slow implementation will only feed lawyers, politicians and the ignorant.

I am sure all the intelligent people at DU have noticed that one of the constant efforts republicans have had throughout the years is to weaken education, republicans do not want people who can think for themselves (I love my uneducated - D. J. trump), they understand they can be manipulated easily, that is why education must be strengthened and made free, then republicans will never win an election, unless they change...good luck with that.

[SergeStorms]

5. That's why republicans are republicans.

They resist change, and in the past few decades they've stoked fear into the American populace to the point where Donald Trump was selected president. I needn't recite the litany of fear tactics they've employed against Americans to bring us to this point in history. Most people are afraid of wholesale change, so to them their fears are warranted. I believe wholesale healthcare change isn't a winning strategy for the presidency, but that's just me.

[LonePirate]

6. There is a whole lot of resistance to change here at DU.

Republicans are not the only ones who resist change.

[SergeStorms]

8. If you understand what motivates...

people to do the things they do, you'd might understand that as well.

[LonePirate]

10. Intelligence and sound reasoning are seldom motivators for a largely ignorant American public.

[SergeStorms]

15. Like I said...

attitudes such as that are exactly why Donald Trump was selected for president. People don't like to be dominated by intellectual or pseudo-intellectual eggheads who think they know what's best for everyone. If you're going to do something like that it must, at the very least, be done without rubbing their noses in it, and lording things over people like you own them. That's where diplomacy and statesmanship come into play, but I'm not too sure you understand that concept. You'd rather force these things on them, like it, or not.

I consider this conversation to be finished. We'll agree to disagree.

[SergeStorms]

11. Are you seriously.....

challenging my credentials as an actual Democrat?

[LonePirate]

13. Democrats want to improve the lives of their fellow Americans.

Keeping the current health care system instead of adopting a better one does not improve the lives of fellow Americans.

[SergeStorms]

17. Nowhere did I say....

that I wanted to adhere to the status quo. I just don't think you can ram MFA down peoples' throats in one felled swoop.

[msongs]

14. note reponses that are personal attacks lol nt

[maxsolomon]

12. I just fear that she's too sincere.

We need a candidate who can counter his slander, point at his hair (orange skin, tie length, obesity) and laugh in his face. We won't get one.

[msongs]

16. one might think offering an option into medicare for those who want would prove the case for

medicare for all, thus leading to actual medicare for all.

[SergeStorms]

19. Hey, no fair using logic in this discussion.

Gut emotions are the real currency here.