We Coulda Had a Bad Bitch, Presidential!

As expected, Senator Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the presidential race today. As expected, she did so with more wisdom, honesty, and graciousness than her remaining male rivals have exhibited in their combined public lives. Because that’s what women do.

We started the 2020 Democratic primary season with six women running: Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, the Russian asset, and the one who tried to have it every-which-way with vaccines. (Hey, folks who accuse women of voting for a female candidate “just because she’s a woman”: Tulsi Gabbard and Marianne Williamson are women too, so YOU’RE WRONG.)

By this week’s “Super Tuesday” in our ridiculously disorganized primary system, Warren was the last woman standing, only to come in third in her home state of Massachusetts. Yes, the very same Elizabeth Warren who was the dream candidate of the “I’d vote for a woman, but not THAT woman, not HILLARY” contingent in 2016. Among the reasons voters gave were:

• “I don’t really like her attack mode.”
• “I just don’t think country-wise we are ready to have a woman president.”
• “I think that there’s probably some prejudice against her because she’s a woman, although I don’t share that prejudice the slightest bit.”

Was Warren perfect? No. She made mistakes in her past and didn’t make adequate amends for them, kinda like Joe Biden. She was less than clear about how she’d fund her health-care plan, kinda like Bernie Sanders. But those issues weren’t what a Iowa Democratic county chair was referring to when he called Warren “very shrill.” They weren’t given as reasons why Warren was left out of an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll last month. Look, before she even announced her candidacy in 2019, Politico ran a story citing anonymous insiders debating Warren’s “likeability.” When Warren’s famous, hours-long “selfie” lines made her seem likeable, the missing quality was redefined as “electability.”

As Elie Mystal wrote in The Nation today:

“Elizabeth Warren was the ‘Stacey Abrams‘ of 2016: the woman, not in the race, that people who are voting for men say they would totally vote for if she would just run. I’m sure by 2024, these same people will find all sorts of problems with Abrams. I know they will, because they always find a problem with a woman once she’s actually asking for power.”

When a reporter asked about the impact of sexism on her campaign today, Warren pointed out that the question itself embodies the challenges women face because there’s no right answer.

Like Warren, I’ll probably have “a lot more to say on that subject later on.” For the moment, I’ll just thank the senator for calling for the big structural change we desperately need; for challenging the corruption of the billionaire class and the monopolies; for being someone who evolved and listened; and for pinky promising with little girls to aim high.

And now, like Bailey Warren the dog, I’m going to go eat my feelings, though I’m diving into Nutella rather than stealing a burrito.

Go, Bailey, go!