Why Elizabeth Warren's second attempt to solve her Native American problem is smart

"Like anyone who's being honest with themselves, I know that I have made mistake," the Massachusetts Democratic senator said at an Iowa forum on Native American rights. "I am sorry for the harm I have caused."

That "sorry" was part of Warren's broader attempt to put questions of her Native American heritage, which she had long claimed, to rest for a second time in the course of her presidential bid. And unlike her first swing at it -- back in late 2018 -- there's reason to believe Warren's handling of her heritage this time around has a much better chance of succeeding.

Let's start by going back to last year when Warren, clearly preparing for a presidential bid, released a five-minute video in which she is shown going back to her home state of Oklahoma to track down whether or not she did, in fact, have Native American ancestors. (Warren had claimed Native American heritage in the past -- citing her mother's assertions about the family's ethnicity.) The video culminated with a Stanford geneticist telling Warren that "the facts suggest that you absolutely have a Native American ancestor in your pedigree." But the estimates of just how much Native American blood Warren actually possessed range from 1/64th to a whopping 1/1024th.

That did little to clear the question up. And things got even worse for Warren when an official for the Cherokee Nation responded to her DNA test, arguing that such claims were "useless" in determining tribal membership. President Donald Trump seized on the whole thing -- as he does -- by once again referring to Warren as "Pocahontas," a term widely considered to be an ethnic slur.

Warren's second swing at the issue is a clear attempt to erase that first stumble from the memory of the campaign. (I mean this quite literally; According to CNN's MJ Lee, the original five-minute video has been totally scrubbed from Warren's campaign website.)

Warren's approach this time around, which culminated with her Monday speech to the forum hosted by Four Directions, a Native American voting rights group, is drastically different than the relatively facile way she and her campaign tried to tackle the issue last year.

The centerpiece of that approach was a series of policy proposals -- and a legislative plan -- the Warren campaign released last week. That's broadly consistent with the I-have-a-plan-for-that strategy that has taken Warren from an also-ran to a top-tier candidate over the past eight or so months. It also allows Warren to make a more forceful argument than just the basic "I am one of you!" She can now point to a series of ideas she has to improve the lives of Native Americans, a move that takes the focus away from Warren's personal story and focuses it squarely on the broader plight of Native Americans in the United States.

Don't underestimate the power of simply saying "sorry" either. We are all inclined to give people second chances if they seem genuinely contrite and appear to have learned their lesson(s). And again, Warren's apology takes the focus away from the "me" and puts it squarely on the "we" -- a powerful thing in politics.

There is also the fact that Warren is riding high, politically speaking, to think about here. She is a more confident and assured presidential candidate today than she was last fall. She's been through hard times and she's pulled herself up -- through sheer force of will and intellectual heft -- back into the 2020 top tier. Warren is simply more comfortable in her own skin as a presidential candidate, and that makes it easier for her to effectively convince the Native American community of the purity of her intentions then and now.

To be clear: Nothing Warren said Monday -- or anything she will say in the course of the presidential primary fight in the coming months -- will keep Trump from attacking her about her Native American heritage. He is a bully; name-calling is what bullies do.

But Warren doesn't need to convince Trump and his ardent backers about the sincerity of her apology to the Native American community and her commitment to them going forward. She only need to convince wavering Democrats that she will be able to withstand the withering attacks Trump will lob her way on that seeming political weakness.

Warren's actions of the last four days suggest she is very much on her way to doing just that.