To the great surprise of many Americans, and likely that of the campaign itself, Amy Klobuchar came in third in the New Hampshire primaries, beating out Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden. Klobuchar’s campaign will now be challenged with holding onto that momentum as states with more diverse populations host their primaries. Her approval rating among racial minorities is even lower than that of the often-criticized Pete Buttigieg.
Klobuchar has a troubling record. Former members of her staff have alleged “dehumanizing” treatment, as reported by the New York Times. She has had one of the highest staff turnover rates in the senate. Klobuchar has responded to these allegations by admitting that she is a tough boss, but adding that it is exactly these qualities that would help her succeed in dealings with world leaders like Vladimir Putin.
This is not the first time Klobuchar has presented her “toughness” as a good quality. In her first race for the U.S. Senate, she touted her handling of a 2003 case in which, as a Minneapolis prosecutor, she convicted the 17-year-old Myon Burrell for the murder of an 11-year-old girl. And yet this instance of “toughness” too disguises a much more sinister pattern. The case has been decried as one of the most poorly-handled cases in history: many of the witnesses later recalled their testimony, admitting that they had been variously pressured by the police to testify; evidence that could have exonerated Burrell was suppressed or not pursued.
Burrell has spent 17 years — half of his life — in prison and maintains his innocence. This is not something an apology can fix. We should be wary of a candidate who consistently dehumanizes those below her, as once she is president, nearly the whole country is below her.
Klobuchar’s proposed policies are fairly standard for the democratic party, though they lean more moderate. However, her policies are often unspecific or involve nothing more than reinstating what Trump got rid of.
Often, she only presents her stance and does not provide specifics. Moreover, she tends to categorize her issues in rigid ways; the environmental section on her website, for example, is largely divorced from foreign policy, social justice issues, and healthcare. She lacks the intersectional attitude needed for 21st-century America.
One of Klobuchar’s main rallying points is that she will beat Trump. She has never lost a race, many of which were in “Trump country.” But other candidates too have made good cases for electability: Biden, for example, who inherited the Obama legacy and was presumed to be the front-runner when he entered the race came in fourth in Iowa and only fifth in New Hampshire. On the other hand, candidates like 38-year-old Buttigieg, a moderate gay veteran who has only ever held mayoral office or Bernie Sanders, a 77-year-old Jewish socialist from a small state — not traditional models of electability — are now neck-to-neck in the polls.
“Electability” did not get us our current president, and it will not get us our next.
Masha Leyfer is a Collegian contributor and can be reached at [email protected]
