Will Elizabeth Warren Replace Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Presidential Candidate?

Since former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s less than spectacular announcement in which she stated that she wanted to be America’s “champion” and oh yes, “president” fell flat, could it be that Democrats are beginning to feel the need to rev up their political machine in order to provide their constituents with an alternate female candidate?

Clinton’s week following her “big” declaration continued to be unremarkable, as well. Her “Get on the Bus” slogan on her official website carries with it about as much excitement as does her new logo that many have speculated looks like a hospital sign, a FedEx logo, or an indication that she is switching parties.

(Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Miscalculations, missteps, and confusion seem to appropriately describe what we’ve witnessed so far following the kickoff of the Clinton 2016 presidential campaign.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect for the Democratic Party to realize that they must start prepping an alternate female presidential contender, should the Clinton campaign continue to go south.

Perhaps the Democrats now realize that they need a sustainable candidate waiting in the wings who is more of a “take charge” individual that can actually win the Democratic presidential nominee.

Enter Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) with her “tough on crime” stance in advocating for making Wall Street bankers pay with jail time.

“After the savings and loans crisis, the government brought over 1,000 criminal prosecutions and got over 800 convictions,” Warren told regulators at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.

However, Warren was irritated by Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo’s admission that he had not referred any bank executive to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.

Warren believes that convicted Wall Street bankers should spend time behind bars for their role in financial failures and believes that Obama’s “too big to fail” strategy is not a good enough reason to allow them to avoid prison time.

Warren considers banks that are simultaneously so big that a collapse could financially ruin the economy and keep bankers out of jail, as part of the problem.

She seeks to encourage the current and future presidents to use the powers of the Department of Justice to pursue prison sentences while circumventing Congress in the process.

Liberals are touting Warren’s solution in calling for the DOJ to prosecute these bankers to the fullest extent of the law, including imposing prison sentences, as being a “game-changing idea.”

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

“It’s time to stop recidivism in financial crimes and to end the ‘slap on the wrist’ culture that exists at the Justice Department and the SEC,” Warren said in a speech at the 24th annual Hyman Minsky conference, which liberals called “the most comprehensive and ambitious version of her agenda yet.”

When was the last time you heard Democrats praising Clinton for an innovative agenda or game-changing idea?

It is notable that prior to Clinton’s presidential race announcement, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee revealed that more than 5,000 Democratic leaders had signed a statement urging Clinton and other potential Democratic candidates to run on “big, bold, economic-populist” ideas such as expanding Social Security, Wall Street reform and “debt-free college.”

So far, it appears that Warren may be the only one taking the committee’s advice to heart.

Does any of this guarantee that Warren will be declaring her bid for the presidential election?

She has repeatedly refused to enter the race even though liberal groups have pledged their support for her in entering the 2016 presidential campaign.

Prior to Clinton’s announcement that she was running for the presidential office in 2016, when asked if Clinton was the future of the Democratic party, Warren said “Well, I think we have to see first of all, if she declares, and what she says she wants to run on. I think that’s really the interesting question at this point.”

I think the more interesting question is whether Warren and her supporters see this as an opportune time to prove that Warren is a much stronger candidate than Clinton. Perhaps she is beginning to portray herself as someone who is not afraid to tackle the big issues, while Clinton’s campaign so far at least, offers Democrats nothing new.

Ben Wikler, Washington director of MoveOn.org, before Clinton’s announcement said, “MoveOn members have tremendous respect for Secretary Clinton. But what we’ve seen over and over again is Sen. Warren publicly fighting against special interests and for the middle class in a way that makes grass-root activists stand up and cheer. That kind of public fearless leadership is something that MoveOn members appreciate enormously and respond to.”

While Clinton wants to be “champion” of the middle-class, responses to her campaign video may prove that her message has fallen on deaf ears.

It will be curious to see if MoveOn.org and other Warren backers will now throw their support to Clinton or if they will sit back and wait quietly until Clinton’s campaign potentially fizzles out the rest of the way.

Don’t count Warren out just yet.

If nothing else, should Clinton’s campaign pick up momentum, perhaps Warren supporters will demand a vice presidential spot for her on the ticket in exchange for supporting Clinton.

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