She wasn’t my first choice as a candidate, nor was she my second.
But I constantly watched and waited for Elizabeth Warren to say or do that thing that would make me go “Yes! She’s my choice!” Perhaps she did say it and I missed it.
Now I will never know.
The woman I am wanted her to be my candidate. I could more closely identify with her on a personal level than I ever could with Hillary Clinton. Warren was so personable and vulnerable as a human being in ways Clinton perhaps never had the luxury to be.
I identified with her struggle from poverty to become highly educated, to be a mother trying to also make her personal dreams come true.
Even her evolution from Republican to Democrat is a journey I understand. I suspect, like me, there came a point when her moral values bumped up against the realities of the way the GOP ideology did not match the actions of the party and its leaders.
I loved Warren’s motto of “I have a plan,” even if I questioned whether or not some were practicable. There was rarely a time she showed up unprepared to fight for what she believed in.
One area I wish she had spoken more about was her foreign policy/DOD expertise. I did not know until recently that she sat on the Senate Armed Services Committee since 2016.
After Beto O’Rourke dropped out, I watched and waited for whom I would vote in my upcoming Georgia primary.
My decision got made when Trump decided to assassinate Iran’s Soleimani and nearly brought us to the brink of an all-out Mid-East war. I felt Joe Biden was the only candidate who could quickly deal with a foreign crisis because of his time as VP and the years of relationships he has already built here and abroad.
I do hope debate moderators pose more foreign policy and climate change questions in upcoming debates. My opinion is these have been sorely missing from the conversation.
Today someone posted the historic picture of five of six of the women candidates who first began this historic 2020 campaign to be the Democratic nominee. It was a reminder when this started there was not just Elizabeth Warren, but Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and Tulsi Gabbard – all members of Congress – from which to choose, as well as Marianne Williamson.
As each one dropped out, so did the hope we women had this year that maybe – just maybe – this would be our time.
Yet I feel a peculiar sadness for Warren’s departure. There was a secret part of me that wanted her to win.
I had hoped to see in my lifetime the highest glass ceiling facing women finally shatter so we were free to fly above it, doing whatever we were best suited for without being crowded out by a mediocre male. In the 2016 race, an exceptional woman lost to a man who doesn’t even rise to the level of mediocre.
And I guess I lost hope. So perhaps Liz and Amy and Kamala and Kirsten and Tulsi and Marianne never had a chance with me.
Maybe next time…pinky swear?
A Senior Moment 