The Upshot

The consensus among pundits and editorial writers appears to be that, since Elizabeth Warren didn’t fall on her face in the first Democratic presidential candidate debate, she won. In an op-ed in the Washington Post Stephen Stromberg explains another reason that she won:

If the first Democratic presidential debate is any measure, practically all the candidates who are not Elizabeth Warren seem to think they can distinguish themselves by sounding exactly like Elizabeth Warren, despite lacking the long record of being Elizabeth Warren. In a political epoch that rewards authenticity and boldness, candidate after candidate embraced the populism they believe Democratic voters desire.

Warren set the tone for the evening by railing against the drug companies, the oil companies and private prisons. She is right that some companies have behaved dishonorably. But she is wrong to make it seem as though, if there is a problem, some corporation somewhere must have caused it, and the only way to solve it is to find and break up that corporation.

“When you’ve got an economy that does great for those with money and isn’t doing great for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple,” she said, apparently reducing wealth inequality to an evil plot cooked up by a few billionaires in a room. The question was about talking to people, including 60 percent of Democrats, according to debate moderator Savannah Guthrie, who think the economy is doing well.

What followed was a competition to see who could sound more Warren-esque.

Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke blasted “an economy that is rigged to corporations and to the very wealthiest.”

Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) distanced himself from his previous criticism of politicians who single out companies for breaking up, attacking “pharmaceutical companies that often have monopolistic holds on drugs” — in other words, a legal patent — and bragging that “one of the most aggressive bills in the Senate to deal with corporate consolidation is mine.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), who had previously mocked candidates who promised free everything, stuck by her promise that she would not give everyone free college, because rich people can pay for their own college educations. But she would give everyone free community college. “If billionaires can pay off their yachts, students should be able to pay off their student loans,” Klobuchar said.

The candidate who came closest to matching Warren populist zinger for populist zinger was New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, probably because he started his rise to prominence as a Warren-like progressive. “You hear folks say there’s not enough money. What I say to them every single time is, there’s plenty of money in this world, there’s plenty of money in this country. It’s just in the wrong hands.”

But unfortunately for those candidates who tried to channel their inner Warren, there was nothing like the real thing. “I want to return government to the people, and that means calling out the names of the monopolists and saying I have the courage to go after them,” Warren said. The monopolists! Vote Bull Moose!

which is as good a definition of winning as any.

I don’t believe I have ever expressed my opinion of Elizabeth Warren here. I think she makes an excellent junior senator from Massachusetts which, as fate would have it, is her present job. If she were 15 years younger, my advice would be to run for governor of Massachusetts, serve a couple of terms there, and then run for president. But she’s too old. She should stay right where she is.

Haven’t we learned our lesson yet? We need a president with executive branch experience. Either that or we should amend the Constitution to divide the powers of the presidency between a head of government and a head of state. If we allow executive branch officials, appointed or civil service, become precinct captains for the digital age, Washington will fall into even further disrepute if such a thing be possible. The executive branch needs serious attention not to mention pruning and it will never get it by electing senators. Or amateurs. We need a government wonk not just a policy wonk.