It Wasn’t Just Sexism That Tanked Warren

Banjy Sarlin: “To many Warren supporters, there was a sexist double standard at play in the campaign and the press, one that demanded more and more details from her and only broad talk of revolution from Sanders.”

“But there were other factors that made her more vulnerable to attacks too. Her voters skewed college-educated and suburban and were less likely to be uninsured and more likely to be nervous about electability concerns. The issue also distracted from the simple winning pitch she rode early in the race: A wealth tax on billionaires to fund education and child care benefits for the upper middle class and lower incomes. Instead, she found herself explaining a health plan whose benefits and tradeoffs were more complicated.”

Christine Rosen: “Elizabeth Warren didn’t have a gender problem; she had a trust and authenticity problem. Her multiple fabulations about her personal history, including a false claim that she was fired because she was pregnant and the infamous and repeated efforts to pass herself off as Native American, undermine her narrative of being a truth-telling, incorruptible champion of the people. As well, she opportunistically embraced intersectionality politics (such as her claim that a trans person would vet whomever she might choose as her Secretary of Education and her attempts to paint Bernie Sanders as a raging sexist) in a way that was likely off-putting for more moderate Democratic voters.”