Elizabeth Warren’s Humanity Is Why She Won’t Become President by Robert Covington Jr.

I must admit, when Elizabeth Warren ended her presidential campaign on March 5th, 2020, enormous sadness and disappointment filled my heart. I knew from the beginning of her candidacy that it wasn’t going to be easy. I worried about the residual effects of having a woman in Hillary Clinton win the presidential popular vote in 2016, only to have the anti-democratic electoral college snatch away the historic moment of Hillary Clinton becoming the first woman President of the United States.

I knew that sexism, double standards and misogyny was going to make Warren’s candidacy an uphill climb. I even anticipated that her intellectual brilliance and competence would make a lot of mediocre and insecure people find ways to not support her candidacy.

However, what ultimately doomed Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy was her humanity. When you hear Elizabeth Warren speak about our country, the unfairness, the inequality and the need to uplift and empower Americans that have been victims of this highly imperfect system, she was bringing a genuine, empathetic voice to the suffering and ignored. Warren used her exemplary skill of policy development to connect with people. Her motto, “We got a plan” was really another way of saying: ‘I’m thinking about you seriously’. For every wealth tax, loan forgiveness, criminal justice reform, fair housing and universal pre-k plan, Warren spoke plainly and passionately about the hearts, souls and realities of Americans that need our government to assist in creating some of the conditions for life improvement.

Warren spoke inclusively about the untapped potential in seeing our multiracial democracy as its biggest strength. Warren was the only candidate that regularly spoke to addressing racial disparities and discrimination with race specific solutions. Warren proudly embraced her womanhood and the all too often additional burdens of responsibility that women must navigate in an unfair society.

For many, this level of humanity exhibited by Elizabeth Warren was viewed as a weakness in the fight against Trump. As a country that has lived through three plus years of Trump’s cruelty, destructive behavior and inhumanity, Trump has been able to water down the very idea of hope, vision and principled commitment to counter his evil. Warren’s inclusive and progressive view of democracy was met with the headwinds of cynicism, fear and narrowly defined and often unproven notions of electability. The contrived narratives of electability emanating from corporate media, Democratic leadership, moderates and punditry encouraged a different direction.

The subtle and overt movement to rally around the deeply flawed and uninspiring Joe Biden as the best option for the Democratic Party speaks volumes to the success Trump has had on the Democratic Party in its own view of what is possible. Trump’s ceaseless demonization of non-whites and white women who fought back against his abuse was so successful, many Democrats have redefined the calculus to be removing white male awfulness with white male mediocrity.

Elizabeth Warren could not overcome any perceived or real missteps because the desire to see her fail was bigger than any resolution that she could offer. Warren’s humanity made her a serious threat to the status quo because so much of it is driven by racism, individualism and profit over people. America’s historical reference point for normalcy has, and continues to be white male primacy at all costs.

Elizabeth Warren should be extremely proud of the campaign that she put together. She did not reach her ultimate goal of becoming President of the United States, but she pushed America to reassess our values and national character. Warren attempted to make sacrifice and empathy indispensable in redefining our priorities. She tried to make all of us better Americans, but more importantly, better human beings. And that is a legacy that will be remembered for anyone that had the pleasure of witnessing Elizabeth Warren.

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