Joe Biden has the qualities we loved in Elizabeth Warren — and he can beat Donald Trump

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Like so many other volunteers, and so many other Americans who are excited by policy details, we were crestfallen when voters did not choose Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Super Tuesday. Though following that rough night we could see the writing on the wall, we were once again distraught when she formally suspended her campaign. We had both knocked on countless doors and had countless conversations with friends to drum up support for her. Her loss stung.

There is no 100% replacement for Warren in the race. That said, if you want the decency, the competence and the fundamental commitment to American ideals that defined her campaign, voting for Joe Biden is the best option. Our fellow Warren supporters should rally around the former vice president.

Though Warren’s campaign had setbacks, her fundamental decency as a person sustained us through them. She got into politics to protect people handicapped by bad luck who needed the refuge of bankruptcy. She understood that all of us are just one terrible diagnosis or one lost job away from financial disaster.

After Warren, Biden is the best option 

Biden has that same sense of decency. His sense of empathy was forged through hardship — losing a wife and two children, not to mention his father having to uproot the family so he could find steady work — so he understands how quickly life can turn. Thanks to a lifetime struggle with stuttering, he is no silver-tongued orator. His connection to others is on a human level.

Warren’s other calling card is her competence. She somehow made policy wonkishness cool. Who else could make a campaign slogan out of “I have a plan for that”? Biden lacks Warren’s effortless policy eloquence. Yet no one doubts the policy knowledge and experience Biden built in nearly half a century in the Senate and as vice president. He has led on issues as varied as health care, foreign policy, union rights, missile defense, gun control and violence against women, and he understands those issues inside and out. He has made mistakes during his time in the fray — but the mark of a great leader isn’t an absence of mistakes but the ability to learn from them.

Admittedly, the two of us came to our decision to support Biden a little differently than others may. The oath we each took to protect the Constitution upon our entry into the Navy and the Army sticks with us, all these years later. We believe our Constitution is more than just words. We believe it symbolizes the qualities that make America great. It symbolizes how ideas — not ancestry — define what it is to be American. We believe the Constitution makes sacred the rights of all minorities. We believe it enshrines the right of every individual to a fair shake and a chance at a good life.

We will defend the Constitution to our last breath, and, unfortunately, President Donald Trump’s actions threaten to undermine the principles of that document. If the president suggests it is within his power to end birthright citizenship, undermine voting rights, invite foreign interference in our elections and substitute his judgment for military justice, we must see him as a man who does not respect the text to which we swore our oath.

Mastio & Lawrence: Sanders argues for a revolution most Democrats don't want

Biden has a better chance of restoring a person who respects the Constitution to the White House than does Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders' inflexible stance on controversial issues is not likely to attract the swing voters the Democratic nominee will need to beat Trump. We supported progressive policy positions Warren took because she worked hard to find common ground. Indeed, she arguably fatally endangered her candidacy when she worked to modify her approach to "Medicare for All." 

Warren wants to unify Democrats

But she was willing to take that chance because of her desire to bring together both wings of the party. Sanders' unwillingness to compromise on policy is likely to kneecap him in the swing states, and his kind words for Fidel Castro would rally the Cuban population in Florida against him. 

If all this could be overwhelmed by the increased turnout from supporters who love Sanders, that would be terrific. Yet we see no evidence that is happening and have no reason to believe it will.

And then there was one: The Biden-Sanders coronavirus debate was useless. Time for Bernie to exit stage left.

We Warren supporters need and deserve our time to mourn. Yet so many of us fell in love with Warren when, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it, “nevertheless, she persisted.”

Above all, Warren’s campaign was defined by her sheer persistence, by her ability to give speech after speech, take selfie after selfie, make call after call to her supporters. Those same supporters must learn from her. We must dust ourselves off and get back in the fight. We must rally around the person who best reflects what we loved in her. That person is Joe Biden.

Cherie Roth received an honorable discharge from the Army as a staff sergeant, following tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is studying to be a social worker. Michael Smith retired as a rear admiral from the Navy and currently works on national security policy issues. Both were active volunteers on Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign.