The problem with Amy Klobuchar: Joe Biden's probable VP pick may not be so 'Minnesota nice' after all
The democratic frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, who is days away from his official nomination for the 2020 presidential elections, has a crucial task at hand: to choose his running mate. Biden, who has vowed to pick a female vice-presidential candidate, is expected to name a committee next week to vet his potential running mates, and according to Democratic Party insiders, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is the most viable option.
Klobuchar, who herself ran a 2020 presidential campaign, appears to have a camaraderie with Biden, which might bode well for her during the vetting process. The senator endorsed the former vice president almost immediately after dropping out of the White House race in February, a move that gave a much-needed push to Biden's campaign, directing her moderate voters towards him.
The senator from Minnesota is seen as a measured, pragmatic moderate with a no-nonsense approach to policies and agendas. Seen by many in the Democratic party as the one candidate with an appeal to draw white moderate voters from the Midwest, both Democrats, and some Republicans, the senator has one major flaw: an inability to draw non-white voters.
Klobuchar also champions her "Minnesota nice" demeanor, which led to her popularity during the viral Brett Kavanaugh interview moment, when she maintained her calm resolve while questioning the now-Supreme Court judge without getting riled by cross-questioning. However, there is another side of the senator, which is highly problematic and is often brushed off as her being "tough." It appears that Klobuchar has an anger issue.
The senator's history of cruelty against those who work for her has been well-documented by outlets like the New York Times, which ironically ended up endorsing her for the 2020 presidential race along with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Multiple anonymous accounts from her staffers allege that the senator threw things in a fit of rage, including binders, which on one occasion injured a staffer.
Klobuchar's history of abuse of her staff came to the fore after a report emerged that three people withdrew from consideration to lead her campaign because of her history of staff mistreatment. Shortly after, BuzzFeed released accounts of eight of her former staffers who described Klobuchar’s Senate office as “a workplace controlled by fear, anger, and shame."
The outlet added that Klobuchar “demeaned and berated her staff almost daily, subjecting them to bouts of explosive rage and regular humiliation within the office.”
Weeks later, another story was covered by the Times which nearly shattered Klobuchar's "nice" image — the salad comb story. The senator reportedly asked a member of her staff to clean her comb after they forgot to bring her a folk for her salad. She allegedly reprimanded the staff for the absence of the fork, and proceeded to draw a comb from her bag, ate the salad with it and handed it to her staff member, asking them to wash it.
In another similar shocking act of cruelty, she once allegedly forced an employee to say to another senator’s staffer: “I’m supposed to tell you Senator Klobuchar is late today because I am bad at my job.”
The signs of Klobuchar's mistreatment of her staff were always there, with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees slamming her “shameful treatment of her employees” in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office during her first senatorial campaign. Politico, in March 2018, pointed out that Klobuchar had the highest staff turnover in the Senate.