Elizabeth Warren: Obama 'protected Wall Street. Not families who were losing their homes'


In a new interview with Salon, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slams President Obama for doing too much to protect the financial elite and too little to help poor and middle class Americans:
WARREN: [If Obama hadn't been President,] we wouldn't have gotten the [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]. At the same time, he picked his economic team and when the going got tough, his economic team picked Wall Street.
SALON: You might say, "always." Just about every time they had to compromise, they compromised in the direction of Wall Street.
WARREN: That's right. They protected Wall Street. Not families who were losing their homes. Not people who lost their jobs. Not young people who were struggling to get an education. And it happened over and over and over. So I see both of those things and they both matter. [Salon]
Warren's latest comments have fueled ongoing speculation that she might run for president in 2016, offering a potentially viable option to the left of presumed frontrunner Hillary Clinton on the Democratic ballot. In the Salon interview, however, she continues to brush aside the suggestion, advocating mass activism as more important than who is in the White House: "Yes, we want the right person for president. You bet. But it's all of us fighting back."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Road trip: New England’s maple syrup season
Feature New England is serving up maple syrup in delicious and unexpected ways
By The Week US Published
-
Music Reviews: Mdou Moctar, Panda Bear, and Tate McRae
Feature “Tears of Injustice,” “Sinister Grift,” and “So Close to What”
By The Week US Published
-
What's at stake in the Mahmoud Khalil deportation fight?
Talking Points Vague accusations and First Amendment concerns
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Trump hawks Teslas, slashes more federal jobs
Speed Read The Education Department cut its workforce in half ahead of an expected Trump order to shutter the agency
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ukraine agrees to ceasefire, ending US aid freeze
Speed Read Kyiv made peace with the Trump administration by agreeing to an immediate ceasefire in its war against Russian invaders
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
ICE arrests Palestinian advocate with green card
Speed Read Recent Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil has had his visa revoked, despite his status as a permanent resident
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump doesn't rule out recession as tariffs bite
Speed Read In an interview for Fox News, Trump acknowledges the economic turbulence caused by his tariffs but claims his policies will be worth it in the long run
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Mark Carney selected next Canadian prime minister
Speed Read The political novice will succeed outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump eases Mexico, Canada tariffs again as markets slide
speed read The president suspended some of the 25% tariffs he imposed on Mexican and Canadian imports
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump tells Cabinet they are in charge of layoffs, not Musk
Speed Read The White House has faced mounting complaints about DOGE's sweeping cuts
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Rep. Sylvester Turner dies, weeks after joining House
Speed Read The former Houston mayor and longtime state legislator left behind a final message for Trump: 'Don't mess with Medicaid'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published