(cnn)scene: a warm beach in the caribbean (because as long as i'm setting a scene), march of 2015  two women, both, curiously, named 'sally kohn,' recline and sip their drinks at they stare at the blue green water, occasionally checking their addictive mobile devices for new emails, conversing about the third season of 'house of cards' and the political mess in washington they're both bold progressives and democrats more by default than enthusiasm the two sallys are debating whether sen elizabeth warren should respond to the calls from the boston globe and others for her to enter the 2016 race, challenging likely frontrunner hillary clinton sally 'idealistic' kohn desperately and impatiently wants the world to be a fairer and more just place and thinks progress toward that goal could immeasurably be helped by a bold leader articulating and pushing for big ideas at the top of the national and global political hierarchy  this sally is wearing a skimpy bikini sally 'pragmatic' kohn wants the world to be better too, but she's all too aware of how progressive idealists are chewed up, spit out and drowned out by party politics she is conscious that barack obama wasn't even that progressive and knows how much more centrist he became in the first six years of his presidency  this sally is skeptical of how much politics can be changed from the inside as well as how much politics these days can change the world, especially given entrenched partisanship  she is wearing swim trunks, a long sleeve uv protective t shirt and two hats sally (idealistic)  kohn:  elizabeth warren is like the obi wan kenobi of american politics today     she's our only hope  there's no one else speaking as sharply and powerfully about inequality and economic populism  plus she has solutions  [she takes a sip of her piña colada]  sally (pragmatic) kohn:  i couldn't agree more  which is exactly why we shouldn't waste warren on a dead end presidential campaign  [she gulps her margarita]  sally i kohn:  first of all, you don't know it's a dead end  barack obama was the underdog in 2008 and look what happened  plus, warren is much more popular at this point now than he was then sally p kohn:  yeah, but in the latest cnn democratic primary poll, warren trails hillary clinton by 52 points  even joe biden fared better sally i kohn:  those are national polls  primaries are run state by state  and in a different poll, democratic primary voters in iowa and in new hampshire favored warren over clinton, so sally p kohn:  in fairness, that poll was run by warren backers  and anyway, nationwide 79% of democrats have a favorable view of clinton  just 37% have a favorable view of warren sally i kohn:  because 63% don't know her yet  that's why she needs to run sally p kohn:  but be honest, the path to her winning is hard to see  sure, barack obama did it once, but do you really think the clinton machine will allow itself to be defeated twice? sally i kohn:  ah, and that's reason two why warren should run    because even if she can't win, she will help shape the political debate and push hillary clinton to the left, especially around economic justice issues sally p kohn:  maybe, but then in four or eight years when warren would really have a shot at the presidency, she'll be a mitt romney esque already ran, not a bright shiny new candidate  that never helps sally i kohn:  all the more reason to run now  now is her moment  now is our nation's moment, crawling out of the economic crisis, still riddled with unprecedented economic inequality, we don't need elizabeth warren to be president in four years or eight years or 16  we need her now sally p kohn:  i agree that warren is transformational and has the bold vision we need right now  and isn't that exactly why she shouldn't run?  national big money political campaigns are where good ideas go to die sally i kohn:  maybe elizabeth warren can be the candidate to change all that, the candidate for the people, not the political process    who even appeals to and unites independent and conservative voters who know the economy is ridiculously rigged for the rich and want government to stop aiding and abetting injustice [they both laugh uproariously at the suggestion that politics could ever be about people, not big money]  sally p kohn:  what i will say is that now is definitely the moment for a woman president!  and hillary's the one with the best shot  plus, for all her coziness with wall street and hawkish foreign policy, she's still a bajillion times better than any of the republican options  heck, they have congress for a few months and can't even govern themselves out of a paper bag  and if hillary might not do as much as we'd like to fix economic inequality, let's be clear    republicans would just make it worse, like they did before  which is what really worries me about warren  there's a reason they're called 'spoiler candidates'  i don't want her to spoil the democrats' chance to elect a woman this election sally i kohn:  but no, that's exactly why she has to run    to make the party stronger, to make hillary less economically centrist and quick on the military trigger  we need a bold progressive candidate we can rally behind in the primaries  and if warren wins, great  her vision also appeals to the broad majority of working people  and if she doesn't win the primaries, still great    we've sent a clear message to hillary and forced her to be more populist sally p kohn:  maybe  or maybe warren runs and wastes all her political capital, making too many compromises to be a viable candidate and losing her pedestal as an irreverent outsider and then being defeated anyway, so she's diminished in some of the power and leverage she had before, too  she's a great leader now, right now, as is  the magnifying glass of a national campaign could expose her imperfections or even burn her up in the sun [she reaches for the suntan lotion]  sally i kohn:   or it could magnify her reach and impact  [she, too, reaches for the suntan lotion]  sally p kohn:  maybe we just see things too differently [they both stare down at their drinks and take another sip]  sally p kohn:  hey, my margarita is half empty sally i kohn:  oh, my piña colada is half full sally p kohn:  either way, we both need more, eh?
the boston globe elizabeth warren hillary clinton's sally kohn
the boston globe and others have urged elizabeth warren to challenge hillary clinton's likely candidacy . sally kohn: the idealist in me wants her to run; the pragmatist thinks we should taker a safer route 