Klobuchar's Temper Towards Staff Raises Red Flag After Presidential Announcement

As widely expected, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar entered the 2020 Democratic presidential field today making her announcement during a snowstorm.

Klobuchar's announcement come several days after a story in The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed documented her abuse towards her staff. An excerpt from the HuffPost:

But some former Klobuchar staffers, all of whom spoke to HuffPost on condition of anonymity, describe Klobuchar as habitually demeaning and prone to bursts of cruelty that make it difficult to work in her office for long.

It is common for staff to wake up to multiple emails from Klobuchar characterizing one’s work as “the worst” briefing or press release she’d seen in her decades of public service, according to two former aides and emails seen by HuffPost.

Although some staffers grew inured to her constant put-downs (“It’s always ‘the worst,’” one said sarcastically, “‘It was ‘the worst’ one two weeks ago”), others found it grinding and demoralizing. Adding to the humiliation, Klobuchar often cc’d large groups of staffers who weren’t working on the topic at hand, giving the emails the effect of a public flogging.

The BuzzFeed story described an incident where Klobuchar threw a binder which hit a staffer although not intentionally. A follow up story by the HuffPost reports that former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had taken Klobuchar to task about her temper in 2015.

Instead of being concerned about such behavior, left-wing activists play the gender card and become downright Trumpian. Case in point is author Amy Siskind:

These attacks from anonymous sources on Amy Klobuchar are a bunch of gendered bullshit. On any given day at the White House, Trump is doing ten times worse, but for him he’s a “strong man.” Women reporters you especially should know better. This is no better than is she likable.

In other words, Klobuchar is above criticism because she is a woman and because Trump is worse. Yes, Trump is a horrible boss who humiliates his staff and has a high turnover rate. But do we really want to elect a President who humiliates her staff, has a high turnover rate and throws things at people? That's workplace violence. If someone did that at any workplace in this country then they would be fired on the spot. 

It troubles me that left-wing activists who would tolerate such behavior from the Senator because she happens to agree with their point of view. Surely they can do better than this?

It also well worth noting that Klobuchar hasn't denied the allegations against her. After making her presidential announcement Klobuchar told reporters, “Yes, I can be tough, and yes I can push people. I have high expectations for myself, I have high expectations for the people that work for me, but I have high expectations for this country.”

There is a very fine line between tough and cruel. If Klobuchar has as high expectations of herself as she does her staff then she might be wise to spare her toughest words for herself.

Another separate but interesting dynamic about Klobuchar's entry into the race would be her interactions with Senate colleague and now presidential rival Kirsten Gillibrand vis a vis former Senator Al Franken. While Gillibrand led the charge in ousting Franken from the Senate amid sexual misconduct allegations, Klobuchar defended her fellow Minnesotan and publicly stated in April 2018 that Franken had "a third act." It will be interesting to see if Franken comes up during the Democratic debates and if Klobuchar unleashes her famous temper upon Gillibrand.