Girl Of the North Country

Who can turn the whole world on with her smile?

Maybe it's Amy Klobuchar, and if it is, maybe someone knows it.  And, if it is, she should know it.

As of now, the senior senator from Minnesota has a good chance to be the first female President because, first of all, she's a woman, and second of all, she's from the Upper Midwest.  She's a nice lady, and she comes across as a political Mary Richards the same way Minneapolis anchorman Rod Grams - who served one term (1995-2001) in the U.S. Senate seat Klobuchar currently holds - reminded voters of Ted Baxter.  (I'm not making that up; Grams, a conservative Republican, was a total idiot.)  Simply put, she embodies Midwestern nice.

So far, that's her biggest advantage.  On the issues, also comes across as Midwestern bland.  She supports universal health care but doesn't want to completely endorse Medicare for all, and she supports doing something about climate change but only tacitly acknowledge the Green New Deal, calling it "aspirational."  (The Green New Deal as proposed has since shown some flaws and cracks in its basic structure, and despite support for its goals, support for the program per se is soft.)  She's basically a boilerplate Democrat.

In general, I find Klobuchar to be dull but inoffensive, and when you consider the fact that Donald Trump is neither of those things, that could be an asset.  Her only pitfall is her apparent reputation for being a horrible boss to work with; her alleged penchant for running roughshod over her staff suggests that may be less like Mary Richards and more like Miranda Priestley.  But, yeah, sure, I'd vote for her.  I darn her with faint praise, yes, but as always, I haven't found anyone I can get behind unreservedly.  I didn't expect Klobuchar to be the one any more than I expected Beto O'Rourke to be - I'm still underwhelmed by him, though not as much as I'm underwhelmed by John Delaney.  As for Klobuchar, who knows?  She may make it after all.

And she sure knows how to handle the snow.