canyonwalker: Sullivan, a male golden eagle at UC Davis Raptor Center (Golden Eagle)
Senator Diane Feinstein passed away today. She was aged 90.

Feinstein had been an icon in politics for decades. She was the oldest member of the Senate, the longest-serving female senator and the longest-serving senator from California. But her political career and reputation as a trailblazer for women in politics started long before her first Senate victory in 1992.

In 1969 Feinstein won election to the San Francisco Board of County Supervisors. Journalists in the media at the time were disgusting with the sexist tropes they promulgated. They wrote about wondering "who wears the pants" in her family and asked her then-husband if he felt "humbled or intimidated" by her success. (To his credit, Dr. Feinstein responded that he felt neither.) But what journos missed with their sexist sneering and offensive questions was that the people of San Francisco had elected her. They were not representing the people of San Francisco with their reporting, they were representing a biased minority.

Nine years after that Feinstein became Mayor of San Francisco under grim circumstances. On November 27, 1978, Mayor George Moscone and and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated— by a fellow county supervisor, no less. The duty fell to Feinstein, who by then was President of the Board, to announce the sad news on the steps of City Hall. As board president she became acting mayor, and a week later the board appointed her to finish Moscone's term. She later was reelected mayor twice.

Two things define Feinstein's long political career: persistence and bipartisanship. While working her way up through politics starting in the 1960s she doggedly pursued her duties and aspirations, not letting insults or roadblocks deter her. She not only endured countless slights along the way but bounced back from several lost elections. She lost her first bid to become a county supervisor, she ran and lost a race for mayor (before later becoming mayor by appointment and then winning reelection), and she ran and lost a race for governor. Despite people opposing her for her politics (though she was always a centrist Democrat) and her gender she remained steadfast in reaching across the aisle to find political consensus. As one of her contemporaries said many years ago, ironically thinking it was an insult more than a compliment, "Diane wasn't in politics, she was in government." We need more politicians like that today.

canyonwalker: Sullivan, a male golden eagle at UC Davis Raptor Center (Golden Eagle)
There's been some discussion in the news the past week or so about US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca). She's missed most votes in the Senate over the past few months as she's been recovering slowly from a case of shingles. Her prolonged absence seems related to her age. Older people take long to recover from sickness. At age 89, Feinstein is the oldest sitting senator. This has renewed calls— from within her own party— for her to resign.

"Age discrimination!" her supporters charge. "You're biased against old people!"

Enh, no. It's not "old" that's the issue, it's "absent for a prolonged period due to sickness with no clear prognosis for returning soon." The party, and the voters in her state, need a representative who's there.

Being there matters. Feinstein sits on the important Senate Judiciary Committee. Already her absence has empowered Republicans to block the president's federal court appointments. Now (today) they're even blocking attempts to temporarily substitute in another Democrat. They've seized power due to her absence and they will not voluntarily relinquish it. Feinstein needs to step down so that a new senator can be appointed and end this stalemate.

Understand that this one issue is not the only reason people have been calling for Dianne Feinstein to resign. Some Democrats have been observing for a few years that she's no longer fit for the job. Again, her supporters have always screamed "Age discrimination!" But again, it's not about the mere numerical fact of someone's age. It's about how well they're able to do the job.

Dianne Feinstein has been unable to do her job like it's the 2020s. Several months ago I wrote about how Democrat leaders are failing to communicate effectively in the modern media environment. Feinstein is one of the main culprits. Her manner of governance harks back to a bygone time in politics, a time of collegiality and norms of democratic government. That's no longer the reality. Senator Feinstein is still playing pat-a-cake when it's a knife fight.

It's time for the senator to step aside. Actually it's past time. Those who don't step aside when they ought to often get shoved aside eventually. In the meantime, those of us who count on effective representation in government lose out.

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