Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) dropped a bombshell about former President Barack Obama during a shocking interview with The New York Times that could have major implications about the Democratic Party — and Obama’s influence.
During yesterday’s episode of the New York Times podcast “The Opinions,” Warren opened up about her frustrations with Obama that date back as far as 2008.
While speaking during the podcast, Warren recounted that Democrats knew as early as 2008 that the economy would be a top issue for voters.
But according to Warren, when she tried to get her party to win the battle on this critical issue during the 2012 presidential election, she said Obama’s team tried to stop her — something she says she’s kept secret for years.
Warren said the summer before her 2012 Senate election, the Democratic Party invited her to do a keynote speech at the national convention, which she described as a “big moment” for her campaign.
“I just want to tell you something that I don’t think I’ve ever said publicly, and it fits in this conversation,” Warren said to host and NYT opinion editorial director David Leonhardt.
“So I sit down, I write my speech. I go back and forth with the folks on my team on this speech, and the line I have in this speech is something like, ‘People all across this country feel like the game is rigged against them. And they’re right. It is.’ Then I talk about the things I think we should do. So we send this speech in to be approved by the powers that be in the Democratic Party,” Warren said.
“Which is basically the Obama White House at this point,” Leonhardt interjected to clarify.
“And they say, no. Take those lines out,” she continued.
“You cannot say that this economy is rigged. And I said, huh? But it is. And they said, No, you can’t say that.”
According to Warren, she said she was eventually allowed to keep this line in her speech.
But, she admits that because of her party’s reluctance — and Obama’s influence — to acknowledge what Americans were feeling about the economy was true, it gave Trump the upper hand when he made it a cornerstone of his first and most recent presidential campaigns.
“But then, the year leading into the 2024 election, what does he grab hold of? He grabs hold of this phrase that he uses over and over and over. On Day 1, ‘I will lower costs for American families. I will do it. I, Donald Trump, will do it,’” she said. “How do I know that was really effective? Partly because he used it, but partly because right after he was elected … when he sits down for his first interview, one of the first questions is, ‘So, you know, Donald Trump, why? Why did you win this election?’ And he said, ‘Because I promised on Day 1 to lower costs for American families.’”
The U.S. economy continues to be one of, if not the biggest issues voters face.
President Trump and his administration continue to highlight several positive developments in the U.S. economy, including record tariff revenues, massive foreign investments pouring into the country, falling inflation and mortgage rates, rising wages, booming retail sales and stock markets, and job creation through the reshoring of manufacturing.
Under @POTUS, mortgage rates have fallen to a THREE YEAR LOW.
THAT'S THE TRUMP EFFECT! 🇺🇸🏡 pic.twitter.com/Vr44kwuj8r
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 17, 2025
Perhaps Warren did make a valid point that her party missed a major opportunity to capitalize on connecting voters with the state of the U.S. economy…
Something that the Trump campaigns did not squander.