Wall Street Getting Awfully Queasy About Elizabeth Warren as Clinton’s Running Mate
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One of the biggest challenges facing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is convincing diehard supports of Sen. Bernie Sanders that, despite receiving $28.3 million from the securities and investment sector, in addition to the $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, she’ll be tough on Wall Street and fight for you.
Enter Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts senator has long been rumored as a potential pick for Clinton’s running mate, even before Warren endorsed her earlier this month. Given the considerable overlap between her and Sanders’ platforms of reining in corporate greed, Warren as VP would, in theory, make the bitter Clinton pill a little easier for progressive Democrats to swallow.
Wall Street, meanwhile, is tugging at its collar.
Clinton’s well-heeled backers are hoping to block Warren’s pick, according to a new report. To them, the creator of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is too populist and too anti-Wall Street for comfort. One bank executive said trying to manage Warren would be a “nightmare,” while others believe her inclusion on the ticket could scare away wealthy donors.
“If Clinton picked Warren, her whole base on Wall Street would leave her,” one top Democratic donor, who has helped raise millions for the former Secretary of State, anonymously told Politico. “They would literally just say, ‘We have no qualms with you moving left, we understand all the things you’ve had to do because of Bernie Sanders, but if you are going there with Warren, we just can’t trust you, you’ve killed it.’”
“We are going to win this. Trump shouldn’t be president and he isn’t going to be president,” said one senior executive at a Wall Street bank who is close to Clinton. “Picking Warren would indicate weakness and panic for no reason and make them look like they are running scared of Trump. There will be plenty of time to galvanize the left and get them to come out. And Warren would be a nightmare to try and manage.”
Others say that Warren and Clinton just aren’t all that fond of each other.
“First of all, they don’t particularly like each other,” a hedge fund manager who raised millions for both Clintons told Politico. “The absolute predicate for a vice presidential nominee is they have to understand they are No. 2 both during the campaign and once you take office, and I just don’t think Elizabeth Warren is that type of person.”
Back in her home state, one graffiti artist in Northampton branded Warren “Judas” for her Clinton endorsement. After all, you can’t please all of the people all of the time.
