Warren: Powerful enemies on Wall Street

Sometimes the best thing to have is the right enemy.

CNBC's Jim Cramer: "Wall Street is terrified of Elizabeth Warren!"

Net positive for Warren.

Elizabeth Warren has tasks to accomplish to get to the White House. 

First, she has to edge out Bernie Sanders as the genuine electable progressive. Sanders has exactly what a candidate needs in a multi-candidate primary: rock solid supporters. "Bernie or Bust," they write. The social media chatter describes Biden obviously hopelessly bad, so their worst criticism is of Warren, which is strategically reasonable. She is the progressive alternative. She used to be a Republican, they say. She isn't genuine, they say. She comes across as "professional" and "elite" vs. Bernie who comes across as rumpled and working class. They describe Warren as Hillary 2.0.

Warren pays a price for her positions.

She is not Hillary, but that is task number one for Warren: prove she isn't to the Democratic activist left.

Second, she has to deal with that professional class vs. working class problem she has. Democrats under Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Barrack Obama, and Hillary Clinton leaned the party toward the educated middle class--white collar--and away from blue collar. Toward office jobs and away from outside work. Toward women and away from men. Toward cities and away from country. Toward wine and away from beer.

Warren still has a little scent of elitism on her.

Warren's backstory of Oklahoma poverty combined with Robin Hood plans to tax the rich and provide free day care, health care, and education for everyone are her ways to demonstrate that she wants to help working Americans. But criticism from the Bernie progressive left makes that task harder. She isn't Hillary, but she isn't Bernie, either. She wasn't on the strike lines in 1965. She didn't honeymoon in Moscow.

Wall Street opposition: "Terrified."

Third, she needs to look like she can match up well against Trump. She matches up well for California, Massachusetts, and New York. She is Democrat to his Republican, female to his male, energetic and kinetic to his hefty sluggishness, pro immigrant and inclusion to his fortress America.

But can she win Upper Midwest swing states? Yes, with Wall Street's help, in the form of their opposition.

Enemies are credible. Friends are convenient to fake because their friendship is a benefit. Enemies are proof that one is paying a price for a position. 

We define people in part by who they dislike and who dislikes them. Trump does this,  inserting Maxine Walters--perceived by his base as an uppity black woman--in his tweets as someone he disdains and mocks. He mocks and condemn Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He is still running against Hillary. Look who hates me, he brags.  

Warren talks about the rigged system and corruption in business and government. She talks about breaking up the too big to fail banks and ending private health insurance.

She deserves to have enemies. She will raise the taxes on hedge fun billionaires and make life harder for bankers and miserable for health insurers and drug companies. If she gets what she wants she will cost them money.

"Stop Wall Street Looting" lays down gauntlet.

She has them, good demonstrable proof she represents a change in direction for Democrats. Democrats participated and encouraged the trend toward "financialization" of the American economy. More of the American economy involves managing capital allocation and risk, and less involves producing physical things. It means that banks, brokerages, insurance companies and energy traders have prospered while farms, factories, mines, forests, and energy producers have struggled.

The trend reflects the blue state/red state divide. Democrats get the big cities with office towers of capital allocators; Republicans get rural America and the factories.

Warren represents a change away from the institutions of financialization and back toward the interests of working Americans. The fact that she is a Democrat who is not Donald Trump puts her in good position to win the states Hillary won. The fact that she has the credibility of powerful enemies may win back the Upper Midwest.

The best headline she could hope for is the one saying Wall Street will vote for Trump, not Warren, and she is getting it.



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