Global Courant 2023-04-17 17:00:39
SACRAMENTO —
People who love their job can find it very difficult to retire. Work is their life and identity. That’s why Senator Dianne Feinstein persists.
I understand.
This is especially true when it comes to a position of power, benefits, and privileges. And few can surpass a seat in the United States Senate.
But it’s now time for Feinstein to seriously consider letting go.
The 89-year-old senator, the longest-serving in California history, must weigh the damage she could do to Democrats by not being on hand to vote, especially on President Biden’s judicial nominations.
More importantly, Feinstein needs to ask herself if she’s still capable of performing to her own high standards.
And she’s the only one who can answer that truthfully – not the hovering political vultures. She and her top staff, who have to be honest with themselves and her.
Feinstein personally would probably be better off just walking away from all the snipers and growing pressure to get lost, dark drama that she doesn’t deserve it. She may be California’s most accomplished senator ever, and nothing can take that away from her.
Whether California would benefit from getting a more robust, on-the-job, full-time replacement we couldn’t know until a successor performed in the office for a while.
Feinstein announced in February what everyone expected: She will not run for a sixth full term next year at age 91. So there is an all-encompassing fight to succeed her.
If Feinstein stepped down before her term expired, Governor Gavin Newsom would — by himself — choose another Democrat to serve out the remainder of her term.
The best bet to be Newsom’s potential pick in that case is liberal U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, 76, of Oakland. That’s because Newsom promised two years ago to nominate a black woman if a vacancy arises in the Senate.
Newsom’s commitment was unfortunate. I say that not because of Lee or anyone else he might choose, but because no governor should lock himself into an ironclad commitment to some hypothetical future situation. He must allow himself some flexibility to deal with changing circumstances.
In 2021, Newsom tried to appease black women who were angry that he did not replace former Senator Kamala Harris with another black woman after she became vice president. Harris’ departure left the Senate without a single black woman. But that’s not California’s fault. There are 49 other states that also elect senators.
Newsom appointed his longtime political ally, then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, as California’s first Latino senator. Padilla is doing fine.
Lee could probably do well too, depending on your ideology. She has 25 years of experience in Congress and is one of three leading candidates seeking to replace the centrist Feinstein.
The two early Democratic front-runners — in polling and fundraising — are U.S. Representatives Adam Schiff, 62, of Burbank, and Katie Porter, 49, of Irvine. Newsom has not endorsed anyone.
If Lee were appointed by Newsom to serve the brief remainder of Feinstein’s term, she would receive significant campaign boost as the newly crowned senator. But it wouldn’t necessarily be enough on its own to beat Schiff or Porter.
None of these three candidates are among the vultures trying to snatch Feinstein.
But Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) — co-chair of Lee’s campaign — last week bluntly called on the senator to resign.
“We must put country before personal loyalty,” Khanna tweeted. “It is clear that she can no longer fulfill her duties. By not speaking out, our credibility as elected representatives of the people is undermined.”
Spare me that style of Trumpian credibility.
I always hoped that Feinstein would be allowed to finish her term with grace and dignity, with the respect she has earned.
I’m not wild about a governor appointing a senator either. That should be the decision of the voters.
But Feinstein’s situation has worsened, and her absence from Washington while recovering from shingles threatens the Democratic agenda in a Senate that controls her party by only a two-vote margin. And that with the help of three independents.
In addition, newly elected Democratic Senator John Fetterman, 53, of Pennsylvania, who was still recovering from a stroke last year, was hospitalized for six weeks for treatment of clinical depression. He should probably be asking himself the same questions Feinstein should be asking. Like Feinstein, if Fetterman stepped down, a Democratic governor would elect his successor, preserving the party’s paper-thin Senate majority.
Feinstein’s more crucial problem is her widely reported declining cognitive ability with amnesia.
But she was voting and helping to push Biden’s judgeship nominations out of the Senate Judiciary Committee until she was hospitalized with the shingles attack in late February.
Since then, she has missed more than 60 Senate votes and judicial agency nominations have stalled. Without Feinstein, the committee is stuck in a 10-10 partisan deadlock.
Last week, Feinstein asked Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer to temporarily replace her on the committee with another Democrat. But Republicans are expected to oppose that. And there is no timetable for Feinstein’s return.
Feinstein said she will be back as soon as my medical team advises it is safe for me to travel. In the meantime, I will continue to … work from home in San Francisco.”
Okay, millions of Americans have been working from home since the pandemic. But they are not members of an institution that calls itself the world’s largest consultative body. It meets and deliberates in person – not via Zoom. How much can she really do at home?
Hopefully Feinstein can return soon. If not, she must conduct a painful soul search and perhaps heroically step aside.
