Former Obama aide and Democrat strategist David Axelrod wrote Friday that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is running a “strategically brilliant campaign.”
In his opinion piece for CNN, Axelrod praised Warren above the other Democrat presidential candidates, stating that “she has a clear, unambiguous message that is thoroughly integrated with her biography. That is essential to a successful campaign.”
He continued:
Her unsparing critique of corporate excess and her expansive — and expensive — agenda for change mirror those of the reigning left champion, Bernie Sanders, in places. But where Sanders sometimes seems like a parody of himself — or of Larry David’s parody of Sanders — Warren seems fresher, deeper and more precise in her execution.
Axelrod said he believes Warren is parroting the Obama campaign by making a massive push for “change.”
“A big aspirational message is more satisfying than a cramped, political one,” he wrote. “Warren is positioning herself as Big Change versus the status quo. Yes We Can versus No We Can’t.”
In contrast, at the June 27 Democrat debate, Axelrod said former Vice President Joe Biden seemed “confused” and appeared unable to follow what was happening on the debate stage.
“I think it was a tougher night for the most seasoned candidates on the platform,” he noted, adding that “at times, the vice president seemed somewhat confused to me in handling some of the questions and following some of the action.”
Additionally, during coverage of the CNN Democrat debate on Wednesday, Axelrod again criticized Biden’s performance by saying, “This may be the best he could do.”
“He was much better than last time. He was much more engaged. But…he had moments in which he was uncertain, where he was on the defensive,” he said.
In his opinion piece Friday, Axelrod likened Biden to an “aging Jedi,” stating that during Wednesday’s debate, he “fended off incoming from all directions, mostly giving as good as he got.”
Axelrod said that despite his performance, Biden remains the frontrunner of the race due to strong support among older, working-class Americans.
However, the former Obama aide said Biden will “need to do better” if he wants to win the party’s nomination and defeat Trump in 2020.
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