ECM Editorial: Klobuchar proven, has more to offer
It’s hard not to be impressed by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. She’s smart. She’s subtle. She is a careful listener. And almost always, she seems to be right on the mark when it comes to doing what is best for Minnesotans.
We heartily endorse the first-term Democrat in her race against Republican challenger Kurt Bills on Nov. 6.
In 2008 when the economy was reeling and American automakers were announcing plans to close dealerships, many right here in Minnesota, Klobuchar met with manufacturers and local dealers to preserve as many dealerships as possible, but also to ask them to re-evaluate their plans and in some cases extend the period for closure to give dealerships more time to sell inventory. It may seem insignificant now, but it was critical at the time.
Klobuchar played a key role in preserving a Walser dealership in Bloomington. She easily could have sidestepped this issue, but through her involvement she humanized it and forced automakers to truly take a close look at what they were doing.
When Stillwater needed political leadership in the Senate to get funding to replace the antiquated and aging 80-year-old lift bridge, Klobuchar was there to help garner support on both sides of the aisle — something she has done quite well since being elected in 2006. The bridge issue had been anchored in muck for years as proponents and opponents haggled over what should be done, but neither side offered viable solutions. Her bipartisan legislation will result in a larger, safer bridge that will serve the needs of the St. Croix Valley for the next 100 years.
She has supported the effort to reduce an Obamacare-related, $28 billion tax on medical devices, which has been widely viewed by Minnesota medical device companies like Medtronic as critical to their continued success. There are an estimated 400 medical device companies in Minnesota employing some 35,000 people.
She has sponsored legislation to make penalties for stalkers more severe, has worked to make access to information about missing children more available for all investigating agencies, worked tirelessly to provide more help to homeless veterans and has sponsored legislation to simplify international adoptions.
After the earthquake in Haiti, she worked with more than two dozen Minnesota families to get children who were in the process of being adopted to their new homes in Minnesota more quickly. That was significant, as living conditions were rapidly deteriorating in those first few months after the earthquake, leaving many children susceptible to illness and disease.
Klobuchar’s voice on the Senate agriculture committee, whose Senate-passed farm bill ends direct payments to farmers and agribusinesses and saves $23 billion compared with current law, is vital to Minnesota.
Bills, a Rosemount High School economics teacher who is finishing his single term in the Minnesota House of Representatives, brings some intriguing attributes to the race, most notably a keen sense of economics and a laser focus on reducing the national debt. But beyond the national debt, we’ve heard little about what Bills would do in D.C. to represent Minnesota more effectively than Klobuchar.
Bills expresses fondness for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s budget plan, a severely austere vision for the country that garnered little support in the Senate. Bills has a puzzling take on the well-known Grover Norquist’s no-new-taxes candidate pledge: Bills signed it but says he doesn’t feel bound by it.
Klobuchar has her own credentials on the national debt. She was one of 14 senators who insisted on formation of a debt commission before they would vote two years ago to raise the debt ceiling. She advocates a mixture of hard budget choices and new revenue for pruning the unsustainable national debt.
As a senator who has gained the respect of fellow senators on both sides of the aisle, Klobuchar has an opportunity to be an exemplary leader who can make good decisions that will affect our state and nation for years to come.
This editorial is a product of the ECM Editorial Board. Sun Thisweek and the Dakota County Tribune are part of ECM Publishers Inc.
Yes, proven incapable to work towards a balanced budget, incapable of working towards limiting the federal government, and incapable of a thought outside the collectivist bureaucratic leviathan of the unions that hold her puppet strings.
She gets a free pass because she does consumer advocacy and is a nice woman.
Klobuchar is the typical supporter of a massive federal government, over-regulation and bureaucratic indecency. Her recent ads with the disabled vet and the GM dealership highlight this fact.
She voted for the bailaout of GM. As a result of government intervention, GM decided to stop supporting scores of dealerships across America. So, she helped create a problem that she looked like a good guy when she “fixed” the problem. Creating problems where there was none to begin with and then solving the “problem” is just dishonest and intellectually appalling.
The same can be said about her claim to using her influence to help a vet. We just heard President Obama in the last debate tell America about how much he and the Democrats care for vets. yet, here is a guy who gets caught in the system and needs a US Senator(!!!) to get him and his family the help they deserve. I have seen pandering before, but nothing to this level. Again, very dishonet: Create a system with faults then provide your services as the only available way to navigate the system thus assuring your continued tenure in elected office. This is just a terrible way to run our Republic. We should all be sick to our stomachs when we see this type of madness and dishonest. In 13 days 250 million people will go to the polls and vote on issues they do not understand, and vote for people they think they understand. Throw the bums out!
It helps to have “pull” as in Rands novels.
The President – regardless of party affiliation – does not have the time to look after each veteran. This was the Senator’s job. That she did it, is admirable.
The Veteran’s Administration has ALWAYS had faults. Neither Obama nor Bush nor Clinton caused them. The system relies on the fact that veterans don’t complain. They just don’t.
I don’t know how to fix this. But don’t make this a political rallying cry. This should be something that is addressed no matter who is in office.
In his 2000 campaign for president, Libertarian Harry Browne famously said,
“Government is good at only one thing. It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, ‘See if it weren’t for the government, you couldn’t walk.’”
The editorial writes about Kurt Bill’s support of a budget plan as, …”a severely austere vision for the country…”
Let’s connect the dots on austerity: Under the Senator Klobuchar, the following are all true, and all true measures of austerity:
1) The unemployment rate is at about 8%. This is the reported rate. The UNDERemployment rate, that is people who work part-time but need full-time work, and people who are in a lessor paying position than their ordinary career due to federal government policies, has risen from 4% to 16.7% in the past six years. If we were to count those who have simply quit looking for work because they cannot find ANY job, the actual rate for overall unemployment jumps from about 8% to 17.6%. By the way, these numbers are from the Federal Government, BLS. This is a massive group of people who are already living in significant austerity because Senator Klobuchar has failed to help them. THAT’S AUSTERITY!
2) There are 23 million MORE people unemployed today than when she took office six years ago. THAT’S AUSTERITY!
3) The number of women living below the poverty level has more than doubled in the past 6 years. THAT’S AUSTERITY!
4) The number of people receiving Food Stamps has nearly tripled to over 45 million in the past 6 years. THAT’S AUSTERITY!
5) The national debt has doubled in the past 4 years. THAT’S AUSTERITY!
6) The budget deficit has exceeded $1 trillion for the past 4 years and if we do not change who we send to the White House and the Senate, this will continue for many more years. THAT’S AUSTERITY!
The editorial board seems to have decided upon their own definition of “austerity.” Instead of recognizing austerity as tens of millions of individuals barely living hand-to-mouth, with no opportunity and no way out of their malaise due to legislators like Senator Klobuchar, the editors instead think that cutting federal programs that waste trillions of dollars is austerity. It is time to cut the size of the Federal Government and use that money to put America back to work and back on the map.
The Democrats had 2 years where they controlled both sides of Congress and the White House, essentially giving the a BLANK CHECK to do anything and everything necessary to fix this, and instead they squandered their time and the mess will now continue into the next generation if we do not together, THROW THE BUMS OUT! Senator Klobuchar is no exception, and she needs to go out with the rest of the bums.
“Severely austere?” The editorial board needs a dictionary!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-24/an-obama-re-election-nightmare.html
All true, but she is oh so nice, how could we just say no to her.
she wants everyone to have nice things and those greedy rich don’t deserve to have “OUR” money. (Of course I’m being a little sarcastic)
Hey, when is ECM editorial staff going to endorce Obama? I ‘m sure it would fall inline with their other endorcmnets ; )
Lots of negatives towards the sitting US Senator but no endorsements for the republican challenger Bills. Very telling of the priorities of the posters here.
Rosemount Resident, your observation is correct. So, I will go out there and say that I have a preference for Bills. He is straightforward and knows the economic of this terrible situations. He is not intellectually dishonest likeSenator Klobuchar and her ilk. Bills has a voting record in Minnesota of going against one-sided spending plans, like the new Viking’s Stadium. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why the governor and so many democrats voted to help a multi-billionaire and all of his millionaire employees get free tax money from the middle class in order to pad their already massive incomes. Bills is middle class, not privelaged like Senator Klobuchar. He will work for the middle class from day one, and his Christian values also means he will not let the poor starve. What Bills will not do is spend the middle class’ hard earned tax money on billionaires and millioinaires, as his record already proves.
Rosie, the reason Bills lost is that he comes off as mean. Just plain mean. I don’t know if he is, I don’t know the man, but Minnesotans just don’t like that.
I’m not commenting on anything more than that.
Michele, I have heard candidates summed up any number of ways, but I do not think I have ever heard anyone say a candidate is mean. Bills is highly respected by parents and students. He was elected 11 or 12 times in a row to give the faculty commencement speech at Rosemount High School. His former students like him very much, many of whom are now into their 30s and still talk about what a good guy he is and what he has done.
I really don’t know everything about him. I have met him several times at parent conferences, I have seen him work on the Rosemount City Council and in the House in St. Paul, and I hear from others about his character, so I know only of his good deeds.
Other than some political differences and ideology, I really can’t label him as mean, as politics and ideology are seperate issues.