Clinton praises Warren as ‘progressive champion’

Hillary Clinton lauds Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as a “progressive champion” in a Time magazine tribute written amid calls from the left for Clinton to use the freshman senator as a model in her presidential bid.

{mosads}Praising Warren’s “unflagging determination to level the playing field for hardworking American families” and her goal of helping others “Share in the American Dream,” Clinton compared the senator to the “liberal lion,” the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass).

“It was always going to take a special kind of leader to pick up Ted Kennedy’s mantle as senior Senator from Massachusetts — champion of working families and scourge of special interests,” Clinton wrote in Warren’s entry for Time’s 100 Most Influential People.

“Elizabeth Warren never lets us forget that the work of taming Wall Street’s irresponsible risk taking and reforming our financial system is far from finished.”

Clinton also might have sent a veiled message to her critics in the “Warren wing” of the party, who are calling for a more progressive challenger to Clinton in the primary.

“She never hesitates to hold powerful people’s feet to the fire: bankers, lobbyists, senior government officials and, yes, even presidential aspirants.”

During her presidential rollout in Iowa, Clinton has already teased a number of policy platforms that progressives have praised. She’s called for the Supreme Court to rule in favor of a national right to gay marriage, criticized the discrepancy in CEO and worker pay, and floated the idea of a constitutional amendment for campaign finance reform.