16 January 2020

NOTE FROM NORM: Disqualifying Bernie Sanders

When Astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon he signaled a remarkable new chapter in human life and history.

I, like millions of other human beings, watched on July 20, 1969 the first footsteps of a human being walking the surface of the Moon.

I, along with every other 20 year old was shouting “He’s on the flipping moon!”

Obviously I have edited my words for a family audience!

On October 18th, 2019 NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch conducted the first all-female spacewalk in human history.

This week they became the first all-female crew to walk in space in the New Year.

They are in flipping space!

Truth be told, they are not the first women in space.

That distinction belongs to Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova who became the first woman to fly to space when she launched on the Vostok 6 mission June 16, 1963.

Subsequently, there have been 59 different women who have gone to space – 40 of them being American women – the first of which was Astronaut Sally Ride.

I am the father of a brilliant and smart daughter married to a brilliant and smart wife and the son of a brilliant and smart Mom who blessed me with 6 brilliant and smart sisters.

My entire life in the public and private sector has been one surrounded by, working with and supporting brilliant women.

I live in a state in which Senator Amy Klobuchar became the first woman ever elected to the United States Senate to represent Minnesota.

A state in which strong women with names like Susan Marvin, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Beth Ford, Jeanne Crain and hundreds of others are CEOs and senior leaders of some of the state and nation’s largest corporations.

As Mayor of Saint Paul my Chief of Staff was Pam Wheelock – a supremely accomplished woman long before I ever had the privilege of connecting with her – who has since gone onto become one of the state’s most influential, sought after and prominent public and private sector leaders.

Susan Kimberly, whose upcoming self-written play, “Superman Becomes Lois Lane” who for years was my political opponent also served as a Chief of Staff for me during my tenure as Mayor.

I was also delighted to have Susan serve on my staff when I was a United States Senator as my State Director.

During my time in the United States Senate I served with powerful and impressive women in the Senate like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Amy Klobuchar, Olympia Snowe, Diane Feinstein and so many others.

Democrat, Republican, Liberal or Conservative it didn’t matter.  They, and so many others like them, represent some of the best and the brightest of America.

It’s why the accusation that Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders told Senator Elizabeth Warren that a woman couldn’t win the White House in 2020 strikes me as further evidence of the hypocrisy of “progressives” like Sanders.

If true, it should be among the many disqualifying positions that Bernie Sanders holds.

To be candid, I don’t support Warren’s candidacy because I think her policy positions are atrocious.  If elected her policy platforms would cost millions of jobs – result in billions in new taxes – and seriously weaken America’s standing in the world.

The same is true of the Democrats candidate for President in 2016.  The notion that Hillary Clinton should not have been elected President because she is a woman should enrage every American.

Again, virtually nothing that Hillary Clinton supports in the way of public policy was anything I thought good for America.

But, suggesting that the vast life skills, accomplishments and talents of Clinton should be disregarded as qualifying her for the Office of the President of the United States of America because she was a woman is revolting.

The evidence of strong women leading their nations is abundant.

Golda Meier, Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel are clear evidence that America would be, indeed, well served by a woman President.

Bernie Sanders represents a failed brand of political philosophy that the Democratic Party is afraid to disown but has been shown to destroy the future of billions of human beings on the planet since the dawn of time.

Socialism, like Communism, drags human beings backwards not forward.

There are reasons aplenty to reject Bernie Sanders as President of the United States of America.

Just as there are to reject Elizabeth Warren as President of the United States of America.

But not one of those reasons has to do with their gender.