2016 Axelrod: Warren trying to 'leverage' Clinton

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday that he believes Sen. Elizabeth Warren is keeping a high profile to try to exert “maximum leverage” on Hillary Clinton’s positions for the 2016 presidential contest.

“I think Elizabeth’s very sincere about her concerns about what’s happening in the American economy and Hillary hasn’t said yet what exactly her program will be, what she’s running on,” Axelrod said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I think Elizabeth knows she’s got maximum leverage by still being in the conversation.”


When asked if there was a possibility for an opening for Warren to run, Axelrod responded, “I suppose.”

“My suspicion is that what she’s doing is trying to influence how Hillary frames her candidacy and the issues she focuses on,” he said.

Axelrod added that Clinton runs the risk of facing similar pitfalls in 2008 by being overly cautious to define herself and her platform.

“You hear ‘Ready For Hillary’— It’s like, ready for what?” Axelrod said, noting that as a candidate in 2008, Clinton was very effective in reaching the American people, but only after the New Hampshire primary when “her back was to the wall, she threw caution to the wind.”

“And now Hillary’s task is to define what it is that she’s running for and running about and what would the future look like under another President Clinton,” he said. “And I suspect that what she’s taking her time working through now, but she has to answer that question.”