Analysis: Warren's Consolation Prize Would be Senator from Massachusetts

Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, who could not get past the Senate confirmation process to get the job she was truly cut out for, the Wall Street watchdog, today jumps into a big field of Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate.

Warren has a strong story to tell about a Middle Class under siege by an emerging oligarchy whose religion is greed, but the question is can she tell it in way that appeals to the blue-collar voters who likely will decide the outcome of a close election?

On paper, she is probably much smarter than incumbent Republican Scott Brown and knows a thing or two about the new economic norm the U.S. is facing (in which workers are toast). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was her brainchild, but its top job could never become hers in the pro-Wall Street climate that even permeates the Democratic ranks.

Brown is somewhat popular in Massachusetts and knows how to campaign (he was so good on the stump that the Bay State Tea Party thought he was one of them until he arrived in Washington and started voting like the moderate senators from Maine).

So Warren may need a perfect storm to make this work: First she needs to get through a crowded primary field, and then she needs coattails from President Obama (who politically speaking does not even own a coat at this point). She probably could use the carpetbagger ex-Gov. Mitt Romney, widely hated in Massachusetts, on the ticket as the GOP presidential nominee, but what she really needs is Bay State voters to break their habit of giving the thumbs-down to women candidates for statewide office.

Months ago a source very close to Warren told me she did not have the fire in the belly to run, and what she really wanted was the top job at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Since then she apparently has had an epiphany (she was talked into running) and is indeed serious about taking a shot at Brown's seat.

Warren has done well in small coffee meet-and-greets and she can grow into a candidate who can connect in the rusting industrial cities that have been forsaken by manufacturers who ship their jobs overseas, my intellectually blessed leftist sources tell me.

The problem is when you look at her announcement video released today she says all the right things, but it sure looks like she still does not have that fire in the belly. That needs to change, if she is going to win in a state that loves to describe its politics with sports metaphors.

In other words, this is not the Head of the Charles Regatta, Professor Warren. It is third down in the snow on the Patriots one yard line and you need to fill the hole with some real red meat, or you lose.

Aviation Safety Inspectors Reinstated For Six Weeks

It took less than a minute for the Senate to fund 4,000 furloughed Federal Aviation Administration workers and airport construction projects through mid-September -- and even less time for President Obama to sign it into law today.

Congress had left town for a five-week vacation without resolving the matter. FAA inspectors had beeen paying their own way to do their jobs for the past two weeks.

Only local two senators were needed today under the "unanimous consent" procedure to approve the bill. Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) asked that the measure be passed, and the presiding officer Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., concurred and the measure passed.

The maneuver reinstates aviation safety inspectors and 70,000 constuction workers on projects at airports around the country.

Posturing Congress Likely to Approve Funds for Libya

The House will take up a politically driven bill to cut off funding for the NATO-led air campaign in Libya, but by the time lawmakers are done shadow boxing with themselves they are more likely to approve more money for the rebels -- and here is the rub: It will not be taxpayer dollars.

While an unholy alliance of fiscally conservative Republicans and peacenik Democrats squawk about President Obama's lack of respect for the constitutionally challenged War Powers resolution of 1973, the adults in the Senate will move forward a bill that would allow some of the estimated $30 billion in Moammar Gadhafi's frozen assets to go to the cash-poor Libyan rebels.

The Senate Banking Committee is ready to spring the bill that will help keep the rebel Transitional National Council solvent.

"Under proposed legislation, this assistance could cover the costs of commodities and subsidies needed to maintain basic living conditions among the population—for example, access to water, sanitation, food, shelter, and health care," the State Department said in a statement.

The other member nations of the Contact Group on Libya are trying to slide the rebels some cash, as well, but they have been dragging their feet. The TNC has accused the allies of playing games with their lives by withholding the money it pledged to give them.

Meanwhile, the White House says House Speaker John Boehner's threats to shut down the operation would likely lead to an end to the NATO alliance. The same goes for the lawsuit filed by Boehner's new-found ultra-liberal sidekick, Rep.Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

As stated here before on this topic, it is much ado about nothing because even if the measure cleared the House, it would never pass in the Senate, thanks to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) John McCain (R-Ariz.) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

"At a time when Col. Gadhafi is under great pressure and our allies are bearing a considerable burden of the effort, it would send a bad message to both Gadhafi and to our friends around the world," Carney said. "What we cannot say with precision is which day will be his final day in power. But we do believe his days are numbered."