Look out, America. Elizabeth Warren has taken to “nerding out” while on the campaign trail. The Massachusetts senator incorporates mini-lectures on obscure topics such as consumer finance, bankruptcy law, and energy pricing into her answers to questions from Democratic primary voters. “Ms. Warren’s passion for policy minutiae has become her way of standing out in an increasingly crowded field,” writes Astead W. Herndon of the New York Times.
Not everyone is thrilled.“Patrick Morgan, a Nebraska resident who attended Ms. Warren’s recent event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, said he wished she had more ‘charisma’ and ‘energy.’” The candidate’s in-depth analyses of redlining, Puerto Rican debt, and net metering must not have done it for him.
What’s “net metering”? I asked the same question. According to the Times, the phrase refers “to a system in which solar panels or other green energy generators are connected to a public-utility power grid.” Warren can’t get enough of it.“You want me to get this crowd up on net metering?” she asked a group in New Hampshire. “Do I have any net metering wonks out here? I’m a big believer in net metering.”
No word from the Times on audience reactions to Warren’s proposed wealth tax or her dirigiste “Accountable Capitalism Act.” What she really wants, says Faiz Shakir of the ACLU, is to reorient the Democratic party toward the progressive left. “Elizabeth Warren is trying to position herself as the ideas candidate of the field, and thus fair, in the early going, she’s winning that,” says Shakir. Even if the ideas are bad ones.
Says the Times: “While other Democrats have focused on sweeping themes of unity or change, as Senator Kamala Harris of California did on Sunday at a campaign kickoff rally, Ms. Warren is making a personal and political wager that audiences care more about policy savvy than captivating oration.”
It’s a noble sentiment — one that the last decade of American politics has proven to be utterly bogus. Sorry, wonks. Change, Unity, and Make America Great Again beat net metering every time.