She is almost fearless.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren made all the usual rounds in Iowa over the weekend and took no prisoners. She trashed Wall Street. She scorched the D.C. swamp. She even snubbed all the India pale ale-chugging bros, bragging instead that she prefers the more everyday, less caloric Michelob Ultra.
There are some things, however, the sharp-tongued senator doesn’t want to say when in farm country.
While Warren can roll her eyes at the old men of the Senate and can feed from the hate of the White House, Warren can’t do one thing. Warren can’t campaign in Iowa like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
It’s not that she is less likable. Far from it.
It’s that she’s less brave. Cruz came to Iowa and condemned ethanol subsidies and a farm bill that picks corporate winners and agricultural losers. They have similar records on the issue, except she wilts where he excelled.
Warren didn’t say much about farm graft during her visit, though she has had a lot to say about it earlier. Back on the East Coast, she put agriculture subsidies on the chopping block, telling supporters in 2012 that cutting farm aid could help avoid the then-looming fiscal cliff. Unlike other politicians, Warren backed up that talk by voting against the farm bill in 2014, citing the corporations who suckle at the bucolic teat of the federal government.
Warren said at the time, “I cannot vote to further cut a lifeline for 125,000 Massachusetts families that depend on [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] while refusing to rein in billions in giveaways to multibillion dollar agriculture companies.”
And she was right. Too bad she doesn’t have the courage to stand behind her positions when running for president. Asked about the recently passed farm bill, which she backed, Warren hedged. “It has some good provisions,” said Warren before adding that “it’s got a lot of compromises in it. And I think we need a farm bill that works better for smaller farms. That’s the part that interests me the most.”
Return now to Cruz.
By all accounts the Texas Republican should not have won in Iowa. His voting record on agriculture can best be understood by the exchange he had in a fast food place with an angry, finger-pointing farmer. For a full seven minutes, Cruz walked through why he opposed farm subsidies and the biofuel mandates that serve as the lifeblood of Iowa.
It was a symposium on how principles can still win in politics. Cruz would later carry the state, beating out Donald Trump and easily outperforming a sugar-subsidy-loving senator from Florida.
Warren could do the same. She still has to run on her anti-subsidy record. If she’s got the guts.
