Why Feinstein’s intransigence will worry the White House
I’m not quitting! Dianne Feinstein was channeling her inner Jordan Belfort this week when she refused to cave to calls from fellow Democrats to retire. The eighty-nine-year-old senator has been a headache for her party for some time now, with colleagues seemingly convinced that she is no longer mentally capable of executing her duties as senator and hoping for a speedy, low-key and dignified departure.
The Democrats’ Feinstein problem looked like it was solved when, in February, she announced her retirement at the end of her term in 2024. But in early March Feinstein announced she had contracted shingles. Her staff said she’d only be away from the Senate for a few weeks. It’s been almost two months since Feinstein has been in Washington, creating several issues for her party, including an inability to appoint any judges while a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee is absent. Frustration bubbled over this week when Ro Khanna, a congressman from California, said publicly what many Democrats had been saying privately: that Feinstein should step down. Others followed suit. Feinstein responded with a “no,” but suggested that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer might temporarily fill her position on the Judiciary Committee until she returns.
The row over whether Feinstein should see out her term or not has gotten ugly quickly. Nancy Pelosi delivered a full-throated defense of Feinstein. “It’s interesting to me,” she said. “I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Senator Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way.”
One person not willing to join the growing chorus of calls for Feinstein to call it a day: Joe Biden. The president’s press secretary was asked about Feinstein on Wednesday and did not go there. “The president, you know, is deeply appreciative of her support for his extraordinary qualified and diverse nominees,” said Karine Jean-Pierre. “So, that is something that he is thankful to her for. And I, what I repeat is that the president and first lady wish Senator Feinstein the very best and a speedy recovery.”
Biden’s loyalty to Feinstein is unsurprising for two reasons. First, because the long-time Senate colleagues are friends. Second, because of the White House’s extreme reluctance to be drawn into any discussion of age and fitness for office. That reluctance is entirely understandable given Biden’s age and — how to put this politely? — unsteady public appearances. (For the latest example of not-exactly-confidence-inspiring public outings, read this transcript, issued by the White House, from Biden’s trip to Ireland. And for some theorizing on Biden’s brain inspired by the Ireland jaunt, read my colleague Matt McDonald.)
It would obviously be political malpractice for anyone at the White House to entertain any chat about the Feinstein problem. And so batting away questions about it isn’t exactly difficult, but if I worked for Biden, this week’s Feinstein brouhaha would leave me with a pit in my stomach. First, because the Democratic Party is fighting with itself about whether an octogenarian lawmaker is up to the job just as the octogenarian president is gearing up to announce his plan to run again. Second, because it is a demonstration of how whispered worries and behind-closed-doors exasperation can spill over into a damaging public clash.
Given his unpopularity, Biden’s path to a second term is remarkably clear: a rival facing legal woes and a dearth of viable alternatives in his party. His biggest problem is his age. And this week’s Feinstein bust-up is a small-scale but, for the president’s team, unnerving reminder of that unfixable weakness.
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Welcome back, Cocaine Mitch!
Cockburn reported Thursday that three top Republican senators — John Barrasso, John Cornyn and John Thune — had been “actively reaching out” to other GOP senators ahead of a possible leadership vote, “including the sixteen who voted to delay the leadership election earlier this year.” Shortly after publication, Leader McConnell tweeted, “I am looking forward to returning to the Senate on Monday.”
And in an emphatic response to his Senate colleagues’ machinations, McConnell returned to the Capitol on Friday afternoon, for the first time in over a month.
–Cockburn
How many Irish-American presidents has America actually had?
In Wednesday’s Diary I referred to Joe Biden as America’s second Irish-American president. A wise reader wrote to dissent from the idea that Biden and JFK are the only Irish Americans to have done the job. Doesn’t Ronald Reagan qualify as an Irish president? asked Toby. One set of Reagan’s great-grandparents were Irish immigrants, arguably making Reagan more Irish than Biden, who can only claim one Irish great-grandparent. The more you dig into it, the messier it gets, with some counting as many as twenty-two American presidents with Irish ancestry.
–Oliver Wiseman
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