Should Bernie Sanders Drop Out? Elizabeth Warren Doesn't Think So

By Tim Marcin, International Business Times

25 March 16

t’s looking increasingly likely that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic presidential nomination. But Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that she doesn't think Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's lone competitor, should exit the primary race.

The Democratic senator was asked about the issue by reporters after touring a Massachusetts community healthcare center and responded by praising Sanders, according to the Associated Press. ‘‘He’s out there. He fights from the heart. This is who Bernie is,’’ Warren said. ‘‘He has put the right issues on the table both for the Democratic Party and for the country in general, so I’m still cheering Bernie on.’’

Warren has not yet endorsed a candidate and reportedly would not comment Thursday on who she voted for in Massachusetts’s Democratic presidential primary earlier this month. Warren did say she plans to eventually make an endorsement. Warren and Sanders seem to have similar views on Wall Street and student debt. The Vermont senator is heavily critical of both.

In an interview with International Business Times in February, Warren defended Sanders from criticism from Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. "He thinks it’s fine to prosecute small business owners; it’s fine to go hard after individuals who have no real resources, but don’t criticize companies like Goldman Sachs and their very, very important CEO — that’s what he’s really saying,” Warren told IBT.

But according to the AP Thursday, Warren had compared both Democratic candidates favorably to the Republican options on the issue of healthcare. 

“While the Democrats are saying, ‘Gee, is the right answer to the Affordable Care Act in the following six ways or go all the way to single payer [healthcare]?’ — which is a good debate to have — the Republicans are saying they are going to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something they can’t describe,” she said. 

In comments that echoed some of the chief critiques levied by 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney against Republican candidate Donald Trump, Warren expressed skepticism about the GOP billionaire's business record. While the often braggadocios Republican front-runner says he's a smart businessman, Warren said that was a big stretch, according to the AP. 

"Donald Trump claims that the reason he’s qualified to be president of the United States is that he is a very, very, very successful businessman. Donald Trump is not a great business success, and it’s time he’s called out on it,” she said.