Another WaPo columnist, Henry Olsen, has joined the pro-Klobuchar crowd:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s campaign kickoff Sunday was far from the dream-start to her presidential candidacy, given the blustery weather that coated her with snow over the course of her speech. Still, the event makes the Minnesota Democrat President Trump’s worst nightmare.
Forget all those recent allegations that she may have been mean to her staff. Unless there’s something more, such as tolerating or hushing up sexual or racial harassment, all this shows is that Ms. “Minnesota Nice” might just have the touch of steel a real leader needs. After all, no one ever accused Margaret Thatcher of being Miss Congeniality.
Focus instead on what she brings to the race: her record as a strong liberal without progressive zaniness; the example of keeping her head during the Kavanaugh hearings while all others were losing theirs; eight years as the chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, Minn.; a stable, more than 25-year marriage; a daughter. Lawyer, mom, senator, president?
All good points. On paper, Senator Klobuchar does come across favorably. She has a good history of public service (Hennepin County DA, 2+ terms as US Senator from Minnesota), and a family history that includes teaching, mining unions, and journalists. She’s mature but not old at age 58, which in races that may or will include elderly leaders whose health must be kept in mind will give her an automatic advantage.
While I’m typing this, I’m listening to her initial Presidential speech out on Boom Island from last Sunday. This video includes all the warm-up speeches (which I skipped) as well as her’s – ah, “because we believe in science!” OK, so that’s just a personal thing for me. Her speech starts at about 1:49:30 or so:
Listening to her speech, I’d still say she’s a little lacking in the speechifying department – she’s certainly no Barack Obama, who I would say has been the standard against all other Presidential contenders have to be compared. Obama knew when to accelerate the pace, or opt for a slower delivery. This ability sharpened the impression that there was good intellect pushing out those words. Senator Klobuchar tends to just chug along.
Incidentally, if you’re wondering why I harp on her communications skills and not her policies, keep in mind that Presidents have to be communicators. They don’t make laws, except through veto and rhetorical influence, but as the focus of the Executive Branch, they have to communicate not only policies, but the shared morality by which we can live together.
Furthermore, that’s how Presidential contenders entice voters, who, in turn, will use all sorts of clues to try to make sense of someone they’ll almost certainly not meet – and they probably won’t read their campaign materials, either. Communicating effectively will go a long ways towards winning the hearts of non-Minnesota voters.
How’s her competition, declared and not, doing? Briefly:
Senator Harris of California struck me as charming and quick on her feet. A former Attorney General, one must presume she’s done some good work.
Senator Gillibrand, when she was on The Late Show, seemed to be giving a stump speech rather than conversing with host Colbert.
Biden’s old. Sanders is old.
Julian Castro impressed me, in my lone exposure to him, as being articulate and thoughtful.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has had an effective Senatorial career, but I fear she’s already stepped in a couple of gopher holes. She has a tall hill to climb, and, if we believe Olsen, above, she may be too liberal to win the Democratic nomination.
So Senator Klobuchar is off and running. We’ll see how liberal without zaniness plays with the Democratic membership.
