WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
DIANNE FEINSTEIN HAD ALREADY made history back in 1978, when she became the first woman elected to lead the San Francisco board of supervisors, effectively setting the agenda for the legislative arm of the country’s eighth largest economy at the time. She was, in practice, the Speaker of the S.F. House. But when a former colleague turned assassin returned to city hall with the intent to kill four political rivals, it was Feinstein who found her colleague Harvey Milk dead. Five bullets struck America’s first out gay politician, including two directly into Milk’s head at pointblank range, just down the corridor from Feinstein’s office.
Before reaching Milk’s office, the gunman had killed Mayor George Moscone, leaving a vacuum that demanded Feinstein immediately rise to become the first woman to lead San Francisco. For Feinstein, the circumstances of her promotion to mayor felt deeply unrewarding, but she would go on to win the seat on her own and serve for 10 years. It was one of the string of firsts that would mark a remarkable career in politics stretching from her first appointment in 1960 to the California women’s parole board until now, when she is the oldest member of the U.S. Senate—and, owing to challenging health these days, its most debated figure.
To say Feinstein, now 89, is facing mounting pressure to resign would be to undersell the frustration among even her biggest fans.
Feinstein is fast becoming a master class in how to spoil a legacy.
She is providing a stunning demonstration in how to soil an inevitable obituary with tales of missteps rather than of purpose. Rather than being MIA, she is now seen as AWOL, even by her apologists.
Senator Dick Durbin, by no means a radical in his caucus, and Feinstein’s successor as the top Democrat on the powerful Judiciary Committee, made clear how much the narrative had shifted. “The bottom line is: the business of the committee and of the Senate is affected by her absence,” Durbin said.
Feinstein’s truancy for the past almost three months, ostensibly to fight shingles, has left the Senate largely paralyzed, e
