Warren's Medicare-for-all may lose in 2020: Former Obama adviser
Robert Wolf, former President Obama economic team member, speaks to FOX Business' Gerry Baker on 'WSJ At Large' about the 2020 Democratic candidates.
An important member of former President Obama’s economic team is not sold on a key part of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign: Medicare-for-all.
Robert Wolf, who was a fundraiser, donor and adviser to Obama, told FOX Business' Gerry Baker on WSJ at Large that Sen. Warren’s position is just not practical if she is to be the Democratic Party nominee and try to beat President Trump in 2020.
“The most important thing’s electability."
“I think it’s going to be a bit tough to win industrial America if your idea is Medicare-for-all and taking private insurance away," Wolf told FOX Business.
But Wolf said he is encouraged that Sen. Warren may be seeing things more his way.
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“I would say that Elizabeth Warren’s team tried to pivot a little, because, last week, she called it a platform instead of a policy."
While he is cautious about polls, Wolf notes Sen. Warren’s popularity has grown to where she’s the frontrunner in some surveys, and she may have gotten some help when her chief progressive rival -- Sen. Bernie Sanders -- suffered a heart attack in early October.
“Elizabeth Warren had a lot of momentum,” Wolf said. “I think, partly, she has run a really strong campaign, but also Bernie’s health had an issue."
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Wolf, who is also a Fox News contributor, says right now, the Democratic Party seems to be split.
“I’d say about 40 percent is in this populist lane and that’s really between Warren and Sanders,” he said. “Forty percent is in the moderate lane, and that seems to be led by Joe Biden, and certainly Mayor Pete’s had some good momentum. So, they have 80 percent of the field, and then 20 percent’s not sure which way to go.”
And that has him worried about the Democrats' chances in 2020.
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“There’s probably half-a-dozen candidates if we include Kamala Harris and we include others, that actually can last easily through the first four primaries into Super Tuesday,” he said. “And my biggest concern is not whether there’s a third-party candidate or a new candidate entering ... [it's] is there a chance of a brokered convention where no one gets to 50 percent?”
But right now at least, he has a favorite.
“This year, Gerry, versus years past, the most important thing’s electability,” he said. “Today, Joe Biden looks like he is the most electable by the polls.”