Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) entered politics in 1970 when she was 37. Ever since then, she’s nursed off the public teat, paid by taxpayer...
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) entered politics in 1970 when she was 37. Ever since then, she’s nursed off the public teat, paid by taxpayers. She’s been in the U.S. Senate for more than 30 years and is set to serve until 2025.
This past February, Feinstein, 89, decided to retire after finishing her term. “The time has come,” Feinstein told reporters. “It’s not till the end of next year. So don’t hold your breath. And you know, there are times for all things under the sun, and I think that will be the right time.”
But a few hours after the announcement, Feinstein appeared confused when reporters asked about her statement not to seek re-election.
“I haven’t made that decision,” she said. “I haven’t released anything.”
A staffer quickly corrected her, saying, “Senator, we put out the statement.”
Feinstein appeared surprised. “You put out the statement?”
“We put out the statement,” the staffer said.
“I didn’t know they put it out,” Feinstein said.
Over the last couple of years, there have been more and more stories about how Feinstein is often confused. One member of Congress who met with Feinstein last year said the once feisty senator had clearly lost a step — or seven.
“I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn’t resist a conversation where she was driving some bill or some idea. All of that is gone,” the lawmaker told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“She was an intellectual and political force not that long ago, and that’s why my encounter with her was so jarring. Because there was just no trace of that.”
And such is life. I remember my dad was fully capable both physically and mentally well into his mid-80s. But around age 87, he began to slide. The next year was even more pronounced until he mostly stopped talking a few months before his death at 89.
I’ll never forget that at my father’s remembrance, a longtime friend of his said: “Nowadays, it’s easy to get into your 80s, but hard as hell to get out of ’em.”
But my father had been retired for decades — not still working, let alone in the U.S. Senate, representing nearly 40 million constituents.
Feinstein appears to have hit the wall (and President Joe Biden, just from my personal experience, seems to as well). The senator hasn’t shown up to the Senate chamber since February. She says she is suffering from shingles and is working from home.
So, not surprisingly, calls have emerged for Feinstein to retire — even some Democrats have publicly said so. The mood got so bad that Feinstein finally agreed to temporarily give up her seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee due to “continued complications” from her shingles diagnosis.
But then Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) jumped into the fray to say that calls for Feinstein — who has missed more than 60 Senate votes — to resign is sexist.
Calling Feinstein a “champion for California,” Pelosi said Feinstein “deserves the respect to get well and be back on duty.”
“It’s interesting to me,” Pelosi continued. “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 that way.”
Of course, calls for Feinstein to step down have nothing to do with sexism. Instead, it has to do with competency. Feinstein simply cannot do the job anymore — and in reality, she should have retired years ago.
And in the end, the people who should most want Feinstein to resign are the residents of California. She’s done a lot for them over the years, so throw Feinstein a great big party, give her a gold watch for her service, and usher her right out the door.
It’s well past time.
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