Word: The downside of Elizabeth Warren

Joanna Weiss, Politico - A certain amount of scolding has become an accepted quality of progressive favorites.It generally describes Bernie Sanders’ demeanor. It’s part of Rachel Maddow’s schtick on MSNBC. And it has characterized Warren’s quick rise to political stardom. Her supporters cheer her for scolding the people who need to be scolded and have gotten away with not being scolded for far too long...

But in a national arena, where she had to appeal to voters outside the coastal college-educated class, the “scolding” part of that description always dragged Warren down. In the presidential race, she tried her best to carry herself as a friend and folksy peer—thus, the never-ending selfie lines, the stories from Oklahoma, the references to her “daddy.” In a room full of people, like that café where I first saw her, the personal touch seemed to work. But through the cold glare of the TV cameras during the debates, as she raised her hand waiting to be called on and chided fellow candidates for their thinner policy plans, she couldn’t shake the aura of the classroom, the perception that she was a professor, first and foremost....

As Matthew Yglesias pointed out in Vox this week, only a third of 2016 voters graduated from college. America currently has more high-school dropouts than people with master’s degrees. American politics is having an anti-elitist moment, a fact that might have hampered Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, as well. Many voters don’t want to be schooled by people with Ivy League pedigrees whose every syllable telegraphs the assumption that they know best.