The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau took a herculean effort, and it’s a wonder Warren got it through despite hostility from Wall Street and both parties. It’s a testament to her focus, tenacity, and political acumen. It would serve us well in the White House. Sanders, on the other hand, has built his brand on a different kind of tenacity—ideological consistency and rigidity. That works great if you want to be the conscience of a moment, its reminder of core guiding principles that others might happily trade away in search of compromise or deals. It’s not useful if you actually want to accomplish much of anything real.

This is why Ann Coulter inadvertently “endorsed” Warren after the South Carolina debate.

x Sen. Warren has convinced me that Bernie isn't that worrisome. He'll never get anything done. SHE'S the freak who will show up with 17 idiotic plans every day and keep everyone up until it gets done. — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 26, 2020

And yes, she has plans. So many plans. And knows how to surround herself with people who can make those plans happen. Today’s plan?

x Today I'm announcing that, in a Warren administration, we will create a clemency board that will prioritize cases of older Americans incarcerated for unduly long sentences and establish a presumption of release, unless the board finds a danger to public safety. — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 27, 2020

x Data show that people tend to age out of crime and are less likely to recidivate, but thousands of elderly people remain behind bars. Those serving sentences equivalent to life are disproportionately Black and Brown, many for nonviolent crimes or crimes committed as juveniles. — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 27, 2020

It’s just a never-ending parade of amazing plan after amazing plan, all of them meticulously detailed, from how they would be implemented to how they would be paid for.

Bernie doesn't even bother with the details, saying that he “can’t rattle off every nickel and dime.” It’s not even that he can’t—he just doesn’t care, because he cynically doesn’t even believe he can pass his agenda! Otherwise, he’d be onboard with efforts to eliminate the filibuster.

His agenda is already in trouble even without it, since the odds of us having a significant Senate majority are pretty much nil (and the odds of even having a simple majority are low). That’s not a knock on Bernie; it’s knock on our political system. President Barack Obama, with all his skills and much larger legislative majorities, couldn’t push the bulk of his agenda through. But imagine what we could've accomplished if Obama hadn’t had to contend with the filibuster?

At the debate on Tuesday, Warren and small liberal college-town Mayor Pete Buttigieg both attacked Sanders on the filibuster. Warren spoke at length on the pernicious effects of the filibuster, underscoring it all with this: “Understand this: Many people on this stage do not support rolling back the filibuster. Until we're ready to do that, we can't have real change.” That’s just the simple truth.

Even Buttigieg gets this: He said, “This is not some long-ago bad vote that Bernie Sanders took, this is a current bad position that Bernie Sanders holds. And we're in South Carolina. How are we going to deliver a revolution if you won't even support a rule change? We are in the state where Strom Thurmond used the filibuster to block civil rights legislation repeatedly. No less a Senate traditional figure than Harry Reid has called for it to go. It has got to go, because otherwise Washington will not deliver.”

With the filibuster in place, Sanders doesn’t have to do the hard work of actually getting legislation to pass. He can blame its failure on Senate rules, shrug his shoulders, and pre-declare defeat.

Warren isn’t interested in rhetorical last stands or ideological purity. She’s interested in moving the country forward as fast as she can drag it there. She’s interested in using whatever tools are at her disposal, and she has a track record of moving mountains to accomplish her goals.

She created a federal agency! Who does that? Warren does that.

I’m well aware of the state of the race, where things stand both in actual results and in the polling. I understand what a long shot Warren’s candidacy is. But the payoff of pulling off the impossible comeback would be unbelievable and worth fighting for.

If you really want systemic progressive change, support the candidate who has a track record of delivering it. Words are great. Accomplishments are so much better.