What Will Dianne Feinstein's Legacy Be?

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

This past week, Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she would be retiring at the end of her current term, which was expected.  Feinstein, at 89-years-of-age, is the oldest person in the US Senate, and has served in the US Senate longer than any other Democrat.  But what was a parade of congratulations from people ranging from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Vice President Kamala Harris, both of whom served with Feinstein in the California delegation, became something of a joke when, in full view of the press, Feinstein seemed unaware that she had made this announcement.  She said, in front of a group of reporters "I didn't know they put it out."

Charitably, this could've just been a point of confusion for Feinstein, not wanting to jump ahead of her own announcement and not realizing a press announcement, which had gone out moments earlier, had officially reached their inboxes.  But it's on top of months, quite frankly years, of conversations about the senior senator from California's health, and whether she is mentally fit to be a US Senator.  We have talked about this a bit on this blog before, but Feinstein's public statements, private conversations that have leaked to the press insinuating that she didn't have a full grasp on what she was voting on, and allegations that her staff are making decisions for her, taking advantage of the situation, have all been levied.  This is made more difficult when you remember that Feinstein is retiring, not resigning, and will be in office for the next 23 months before one of the bevy of Democrats running to replace her gets her seat.

But today, I thought it would be worth asking a question of legacy.  As I said above, this should've been a crowning moment for Feinstein.  She's become a punching bag from the left first for her belief system (she's more moderate than you'd anticipate a Senator from California to be) and secondly (from all sides) for her age, but what shouldn't get lost here is Feinstein is a pioneer.  She was the first female mayor of San Francisco, the first female nominee for a major party to run for governor of California, and the state's first female US Senator.  She was the first female Senate Judiciary Chair (the first woman to sit on the committee, period) and the first woman to chair a presidential inauguration.  She was on the shortlist to be Walter Mondale's vice presidential running-mate, according to most involved the runner-up to Geraldine Ferraro.  You could make a serious argument that with the exceptions of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, & Kamala Harris, she has been the most important American woman in elected politics in the past 30 years.  She has been a crucial vote on everything from gun control to federal judges to health care.

Legacy is a tricky subject, because when we think about legacy it's largely shaped by what we think in the future, not what we think right now.  If you'd looked at Woodrow Wilson's reputation in, say, the 1930's, it would've been far more impressive than it would be today, while Jimmy Carter is generally well-regarded publicly now, but was chased out of office in a landslide in 1980.  But Feinstein's accomplishments are unique because while some of her legislative positions may age poorly, certainly with people who sport her party label (particularly her views on civil liberties & personal privacy, given her robust support of the Patriot Act both at inception and renewal in 2012, will be brought up for as long as she's discussed), largely her accomplishments as a pioneer in the women's rights movement will be hard to dismiss...but for the way that she ended her career.

It is probable that we won't know the extent of Feinstein's condition until well after she leaves office.  There's little incentive for members of her staff to leak much to the press right now, and now that it's confirmed she's retiring, her potential primary rivals have no reason to tear down a woman whose supporters they're actively courting.  But it's easy to see that changing after Feinstein leaves office and the books & political memoirs start to leak anecdotes.  Look at someone like Mark Kirk, who after suffering a stroke, clearly had cognitive issues that became what he was best-known for despite 16 years in Congress.  He compared President Obama to a drug dealer, referred to women as "ho's" publicly, and made a racially-insenstive remark about his opponent Tammy Duckworth, saying "I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington" when Duckworth, who on her father's side has relatives that served in the American Revolution, spoke of her family's centuries of military service.

Another one of Feinstein's former colleagues it's easy to think of right now is Strom Thurmond, who also had a career with a number of headlines (a 1948 presidential race, chaired two Senate committees, served as President Pro Tempore, and at the time when he retired, served longer than any other Senator in American history) while having a far more problematic voting record than Feinstein (specifically on civil rights).  But Thurmond is best-remembered today for basically being incompetent for much of his last term in office, to the point where he struggled to speak on the Senate floor (he was over 100 when he left office), and relied on his staff to make decisions.  Thurmond has since become something of an old-age punchline, a perfect example of someone so entrenched in Washington they basically had become a light fixture in the Capitol hallway more than a vital leader in the chamber.  One wonders if Feinstein, waiting six years too late to announce her retirement, will join him as historians and the public at-large remember her decades in office.