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8A, DAILY JOURNAL FRIDAY • FebRUARY 1, 2019
Surely the silliest as-pirant for the Demo-crats’ 2020 presidential nomination is already
known: “Beto,” aka Robert Francis, O’Rourke is a skate-boarding man-child whose fascination with himself caused him to live-stream a recent dental appointment for – open-wide, please – teeth cleaning. His journal about his post-election recupera-tion-through-road-trip-to-no-where-in-particular is so without wit or interesting observations that it merits Truman Capote’s description of “On the Road” author Jack Kerouac’s work: That’s not writing, that’s typing.
When Democrats are done flirting with such insipidity, their wandering attentions can flit to a contrastingly serious candidacy, coming soon from Minnesota. The land of 10,000 lakes and four unsuccessful presidential candidates (Harold Stassen, Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Walter Mondale) now has someone who could break the state’s losing streak. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the person perhaps best equipped to send the current president packing.
To get the boring part over with, she satisfies the 2020 Chromosome Criterion: The Democratic nominating elec-torate is disproportionately female and eager to achieve what they came tantalizing-ly close to in 2016, a female president. Now, about politics and policy.
She is from a state con-tiguous with Iowa, whose caucuses might, or might not, be as big a deal in 2020 as they have been since Jimmy Carter’s 1976 success in them propelled him toward the presidency. (Early voting for California’s March 3 primary, in which probably 11 percent of delegates to the Demo-cratic National Convention will be allocated, begins the
day of Iowa’s caucuses, so some candidates might slight Iowa in order to court Califor-nia.) Minnesota also borders Wisconsin, one of the three Rust Belt states (the others are Michigan and Pennsylvania) that Donald Trump took that had voted Democratic in at least six consecutive presiden-tial elections. She is from the Midwest, where Democrats need help in Michigan (Trump carried it by just 0.3 percent of the vote), Iowa (Trump by 9 percentage points) and Ohio (Trump by 9 points).
Minnesota has voted Democratic in 11 consecutive presidential elections (since it spurned George McGov-ern, from neighboring South Dakota, in 1972). It has more electoral votes (10) than such swing states as New Hamp-shire (4), Iowa (6), Nevada (6) and Colorado (9). But Minne-sota’s blueness has been fad-ing: Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by 8 percentage points in 2012, but four years later Hillary Clinton defeated Trump by just 1.5 points.
Klobuchar, who will be 59 in May, is the daughter of a newspaper columnist. Surmounting this handicap, she went to Yale, then to the University of Chicago Law School, then to a law firm. Then to a maternity ward, where she was provoked: Her infant daughter had a serious problem, but the rule at the time was that new mothers should be out of the hospital in 24 hours, which kindled her interest in public policy. After a stint as the elected prose-cuting attorney of Hennepin County (Minneapolis), she won an open Senate seat in 2006. Last year she won a third
term by a 24-point margin.Her state has a significant
farming population and agri-business (e.g., Cargill, General Mills, Land O’Lakes, Horm-el), so she has had practice speaking to populations and interests that Democrats need, and speaking against trade wars in which farmers quickly become collateral damage. She has become informed about what could be one of the most salient issues in 2020 – the high costs of prescrip-tion drugs. In the Almanac of American Politics’ most recent (2015) vote rankings, she was the 27th most liberal senator, liberal enough to soothe other liberals without annoying everyone else.
As the bidding war for the affection of the Democratic left spirals into inanity – “Abolish ICE!”; “70 percent marginal tax rate!”;”Impeach the president!”; “Pack the Supreme Court!”; “Medicare for all!”; “Free college!”; “Free other stuff!” – Klobuchar is the potential top-tier candidate most apt to resist forfeiting the general election while winning the nomination.
Her special strength, how-ever, is her temperament. Baseball, it has been said, is not a game you can play with your teeth clenched. That is also true of politics, another day-by-day game with a long season: It requires an emo-tional equipoise, a blend of relaxation and concentration, stamina leavened by cheerful-ness. Klobuchar laughs easily and often. If the nation wants an angry president, it can pick from among the many seeth-ing Democratic aspirants, or can keep the one president it has. If, however, it would like someone to lead a fatigued nation in a long exhale, it can pick a Minnesotan, at last.
GEORGE WILL is a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Washington Post. Readers can contact him at [email protected].
OPIN
ION
Too often, we forget about the large number of people living in our community who strug-
gle to get enough food to eat on a daily basis.
Maybe we think about them around Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the spirit of giving is prevalent. Or maybe they come to mind when our church, school or business is doing a canned food drive. But the truth is, their needs are ever present, even when they’re not top of mind for us.
Thankfully, a large number of food banks exist throughout Northeast Mississippi to reduce the hunger burden. But they continually need our help.
In Lee County alone, the number of people who are food insecure is mind boggling, as Ja-son Martin, executive director of the Tupelo-Lee County Hunger Coalition, relayed in a story in Sunday’s Daily Journal by Gin-
na Parsons. Martin pointed to a 2014 study called “Map the Meal Gap” that was compiled by Feeding America, the nation-wide entity that oversees food banks.
“Lee County was found to have 19.2 percent of the popu-lation that was food insecure,” Martin said. “That means 16,270 people in this county are suffer-ing from food insecurity. The amount of money needed to close the gap to zero in 2014 was $8,490,000. That’s a lot of food.”
There are 34 agencies in 12 counties in Northeast Missis-sippi that depend on the Mid-South Food Bank in Memphis to help provide food for pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and mobile units. The food bank charges a nominal fee, usually 12 cents per pound, for food it delivers to agencies that need it.
In 2018, the Mid-South Food Bank delivered 3.6 million pounds of food to the 12 coun-
ties it serves in Northeast Mis-sissippi. That total didn’t even represent half the food needed to erase the number of food insecure, said the food bank’s director of agency partnerships and programs, Lakeisha Ed-wards.
Leaders at many food pantries told Parsons they tend to get a lot of donations around Christ-mas, but not as many during the rest of the year. They said mon-etary donations are most useful both because the food pantries are able to buy food at cheap-er prices and because they can stretch dollars longer. Another big need is for volunteers who can help with sorting and distri-bution.
We are proud to highlight the work of our region’s food pan-tries that serve such an import-ant need. It’s also important to stop and remember that feeding the hungry is a team effort that requires help from all of us.
I took a dive last month. A leap. I did something I’ve not done in nearly five years. I auditioned for a play at Tu-
pelo Community Theatre.I’ve never been great at audi-
tioning. I’m not great at many, many things, actually – but audi-tioning for a role is definitely on that long, ever-expanding list.
So, when I got the call that I had been cast in TCT’s up-coming production of John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill,” I was pleasantly surprised, humbled and excited to return to the stage.
Then I got the script.Now, I’ve read the book be-
fore. Seen the film adaptation with Samuel L. Jackson and Matthew McConaughey multi-ple times. I know what kind of language exists within the dia-logue. For that matter, I’m from Mississippi – I know what kind of language is embedded within the history of this state.
Let’s be honest, saying it’s in our history isn’t factual enough. It’s ever present.
And, I can honestly say in all my 34 years, I’ve never said THAT word in my entire life. You know the one. To call it an ethnic slur gives a flowery description for a despicable noun.
If you’ve never acted before, let me tell you something about taking on a role that you might not know: Sometimes, you have to play the bad guy.
You have to recite words that you wouldn’t ordinarily say, you have to kiss people you wouldn’t normally kiss, and you have to be someone you aren’t usually … are.
It can be fun, it can be gru-eling, but almost always – it’s incredibly rewarding. (If you’ve never auditioned or volunteered for a community theater produc-tion, I highly recommend it.)
But, I digress. That word – the word which should not be uttered – appears several times in a monologue that I have to give. On stage. In front of an audience.
I don’t even say that word when I’m alone in my car, sing-ing along to songs that use it.
It’s because I grew up know-ing it was wrong. I was taught how despicable it was. Nobody in my family said it. The first time I heard it in the wild, I was shocked.
In 2019, I’m still shocked when I hear it. But with age has come the wisdom to not just be disap-pointed, but to also be angry.
Angry that people are so closed-minded. Angry to call a place home that still finds that mentality worthwhile. Angry that a word can do so much damage.
In a few weeks, I’ll have to say that word on stage, standing alongside cast members who are black and white.
My character will describe a despicable act that hurls the plot of a very powerful production forward. And it’ll be awkward. And uncomfortable. And out of my comfort zone.
But thankfully, I’ll be in char-acter. When I walk off stage and shed him, that word won’t be in my vocabulary again.
I’ll return to being angered and disappointed when I hear it.
The difference is, I’ll no longer be shocked at its sound. Surprise and fear are no longer elements of a useful utility belt in the cur-rent social landscape.
They’re antiques, archaic factors from a time when we ex-pected things would get better.
They can be left in the past, with THAT word – with that mindset. Leave them behind.
Be disappointed. Be angry. Be steadfast. Be better.
W. DEREK RUSSELL is a columnist and the Daily Journal’s features, arts and enter-tainment reporter. Contact him on Twitter @wderekrussell or email him at [email protected].
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Klobuchar could break Minnesota’s presidential losing streak
Feeding hungry a team effort
George Will
Sticks and stones and southern safety zones
W. Derek Russell