NEXT PRESIDENT?
Meet the woman who might become the next president of the United States.
As we enter the dog days of summer, it’s time for my annual book review. This is for all who want a little light vacation reading but a book that is smart, engaging and thought-provoking. And the book this year is Kirsten Gillibrand’s “Off the Sidelines: Speak Up, Be Fearless, and Change Your World.”
If you have not yet heard of Kirsten Gillibrand, rest assured you will hear her name in the months and years to come. She will very likely be a candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for president for the American 2020 presidential election. In other words, she is gearing up to challenge Donald Trump for the White House in 2020.
Kirsten Gillibrand is currently a member of the United States Senate representing the state of New York. She is a feminist, a progressive, a staunch advocate for human rights, social equality, public health care, gun control, workers’ rights, immigration reform, a Wall Street financial transactions tax, campaign finance reform and opposition to the Trump agenda.
She is also a passionate defender of women’s rights, the need for tougher laws and public policies against sexual assault and sexual harassment in American society in general and, in particular, within the U.S. military and American colleges and universities, and LGBTQ rights.
At the age of 52 she is still amongst the younger members of the United States Senate, and one of only 21 women currently sitting in this legislative body.
So, who is she? Off the Sidelines, her autobiography published by Ballantine Books in 2014, is her very personal, moving and inspirational life story. As the book’s subtitle suggests, this is more than just a life narrative but a call for women to stand up, get involved in the life of their communities, their politics and their nation.
The book is a delightful read. We quickly meet the two most important women in Kirsten’s life, her mother, a lawyer, and her grandmother, a political activist and organizer for the Democratic Party in New York. From Day One she was surrounded by smart, strong and independent women, and the men who loved them.
Not surprisingly, Kirsten excels in school, earns her B.A. from Dartmouth College, a law degree from UCLA, and becomes an associate with the Manhattan-based corporate law firm Davis Polk and Wardwell. By her 30s she’s a successful career woman, with a devoted husband and two young boys. But something is missing.
Long interested in politics and public policy she feels compelled to get off the sidelines, give back to her community and to work to make America a better place for ordinary working families.
In 2006 she ran for Congress in an up-state, traditionally Republican congressional district. Being the underdog, she outworked, outhustled and out-thought the Republican incumbent, winning the district with 53 per cent of the vote. She was re-elected in 2008 with a popular vote total of 62 per cent.
Just a month after being reelected, President-elect Barack Obama appointed Hillary Clinton, then a United States Senator for New York, as his Secretary of State. This opened up a Senate seat and, pursuant to the American constitution, the Governor of New York, then a Democrat, had the right to appoint a new senator to serve out Clinton’s term of office. In January 2009, the governor appointed Kirsten. She was 42 years old.
In 2010 she ran in and won reelection to the Senate and, in 2012, she was again re-elected to a full six-year term winning 72 per cent of the vote. She is currently running, yet again, for re-election in the mid-term elections this coming November and she will win her seat handily.
After nine years in the Senate Kirsten has become a Democratic Party star. One of the leading voices of the progressive wing of the party, someone who knows the tough world of Washington backroom politics, while also being true to her ideals and vision of how Americans can and should listen to the better angels of their national spirit, not their worst demons.
All through the latter part of Off the Sidelines we see a woman giving back to help people move forward; a woman breaking down barriers and ugly stereotypes, and challenging sexism. She is inspiring and a true leader in stranger times.
So look to see and hear more about Senator Gillibrand as she takes to the American national stage. By Jan. 20, 2021 she may have earned the title Madame President.
If you have not yet heard of Kirsten Gillibrand, rest assured you will hear her name in the months and years to come.