Dear Elizabeth Warren:

First, let me congratulate you on staying classy, even though you were passed over to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau you worked so hard to develop. You're being way nicer to the Big Boys than I would be. 

There's a buzz about you running for Senate in Massachusetts. I'd vote for you if you did, because you are my hero. But please, don't run. 

Here's why. Congressmen  may not like you, the Obamians may not trust you. (And what's with the "trust" thing? It also comes up in Joe Nocera's New York Times profile of outgoing FDIC chair Sheila Bair. Washington trusted these smart guys and look where that got us.)

But I digress. Forget about those guys. And these guys. The rest of us--anyone with a credit card or bank account, or who still holds the corny belief that ordinary citizens need some regulation and protection from corporate financial interests, we admire you. Every time we read another story like this, we want you to be speaking up for our interests.

In the Senate you'd just be one of 100, a junior at that. As the kids say, don't dilute your brand! Here's a better idea: a television show (you could even invite those other  not-to-be-trusted, over-50 women Sheila Bair and Brooksley Born),  in which you tell it straight about economic and consumer issues and the power of banks and corporations.

I'm thinking: "The View" from the left. Clark Howard with an expertise in public policy.

Howard Beal without the mental illness.

Suze Orman without the leather. Charlie Rose without, well, Charlie Rose. 

But hey, this is the 21st century, the two-screen age. Imagine if everyone watched your show illustrating the latest financial injustice and then texted, tweeted and Facebooked their elected representatives to do something about it? 

That's where Oprah comes in. She's got the infrastructure and needs a show that people would actually watch. A second wind for her second act. Her network is bombing, and she's betting on a talk show with Rosie O'Donnell. (Rosie O'Donnell? Not good.) 

Why don't you two do lunch? She'd probably bring Gayle; you could bring me. 

Oprah, after all, is at her best not when she's shilling for questionable-anti-aging "hormone" treatments or kooky spiritual philosophies, but when she and Lisa Ling work as a journalists trying to make the world a better place. Her show on Pembroke, Illinois, one of the poorest places in the country, located not far from her studios, was a heartbreaking piece of storytelling. Another memorable show came from her efforts to track down a 6-year-old boy from Ghana whose picture appeared in a New York Times story about slavery.

It's too bad that her network plays to the cheesiest of elements rather than her higher strengths. Think about it. Here you are, two fifty-something women at a crossroads. If you've got people, have them call her people.

She'll probably make you get a haircut and new glasses, but she does that to everyone, and it could be fun!

Sometimes setbacks like these lead to better opportunities. Don't be afraid of change. Go on, take a meeting. At the worst, you'll have had lunch with Oprah. How bad could that be?

Your fan, B.J. Roche