All eyes have been locked on Hillary Clinton in relation to the 2016 Democratic nomination. However, could 2016 be similar to 2008 when an up-and-coming candidate to Clinton’s left beat her out of the top spot? Supporters of progressive-minded politicians like Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts, certainly think so.
Report from the Washington Post:
For more than two years, President Obama has endorsed reducing Social Security payments as part of an ambitious deal to tame the national debt. But then Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) — viewed by supporters on the left as a potential 2016 presidential candidate — embraced a far different proposal: increasing benefits for seniors.
As Obama struggles to achieve his second-term domestic agenda, a more liberal and populist voice is emerging within a Democratic Party already looking ahead to the next presidential election. The push from the left represents both a critique of Obama’s tenure and a clear challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the party’s presumptive presidential front-runner, who carries a more centrist banner.
The left’s influence will be on display in coming weeks when a high-profile congressional committee formed after the government shutdown faces a deadline to forge a budget agreement. Under strong pressure from liberals, the panel has effectively abandoned discussion of a “grand bargain” agreement partly because it probably would involve cuts to Social Security.
“The absolute last thing we should do in 2013 — at the very moment that Social Security has become the principal lifeline for millions of our seniors — is allow the program to begin to be dismantled inch by inch,” Warren said recently on the Senate floor, announcing her support for a bill that would expand the program.
Liberals say Social Security is one example of how Democrats are likely to face sustained pressure in coming months to move in a more populist direction on a host of issues.
Many people, myself admittedly included, thought Hillary Clinton was a lock for the 2008 nomination. I specifically remember a family member asking me what I thought of Barack Obama beating her to which I replied, something along the lines of, “no chance.” Thus, my career with the Psychic Friends Network came to a halt.
Can lightening strike twice and deny Mrs. Clinton the nomination a second time?
