A glass of wine served to break the bad atmosphere that had been created between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during the Democratic Party primaries. Obama had won the presidential nomination. And there they were, face to face with their California Chardonnay. Senator Dianne Feinstein had facilitated the secret meeting at her home in Washington, without anyone knowing, between the two Democratic leaders.
It was June 5, 2008, where an alliance arose between the victor and the loser. Clinton joined Obama’s electoral campaign, and once in the White House, he appointed her Secretary of State. This is how the former first lady tells it in her memoirs “Difficult Decisions”, published in 2014 and where she thanks her friend and her intermediary.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, considered a pioneer, was one of the great fighters for gun control and its limitation in the United States, being one of those who promoted the ban on assault weapons approved by President Bill Clinton in 1994. She was also recognized for her continued efforts to find alliances with Republicans during her three decades of service in the Upper House. She died this Friday, after a long period of physical and mental decline, of family conflicts, which does not hide her political legacy.
He was 90 years old. Feinstein was the oldest member of the Senate, the woman who has served the longest in that legislative branch and the Californian with the longest tenure. Last February she announced her plans to retire at the end of this term and not run for re-election in 2024. That was her response to numerous requests for her to resign due to health reasons. her. The image of this influential woman prostrate in a wheelchair and with her gaze lost, no one knows where, provoked both grief and cause of ridicule from rivals and even colleagues in the ranks.
Once he announced his decision to leave the capital, the praise for his work began, in a preview of the obituaries that are written today. President Joe Biden, her longtime colleague in the Senate, described her as “a passionate champion of civil rights and a powerful voice for national security policies that kept us safe while she honored our values.”
“I have served with many senators and I can say that Feinstein is one of the best,” the old friend stressed.
As chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she was in charge of investigating the inhumane practices that the CIA used in its interrogations with the programs it developed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. That investigation led to legislation in the that the use of these torture methods is vetoed and that made her the target of conservatives’ anger.
Considered a centrist democrat, due to her ability to negotiate with the other party, she often received criticism from the most progressive wing of her party. She distanced herself from this sector on many occasions, such as her recent opposition to the new major proposal for a green deal, considering it politically and fiscally unviable.
Before being elected senator in 1992, Feinstein was the first female mayor of San Francisco, where she previously served as a member and president of the city’s supervisory board. She decided to run for mayor after the 1978 murder of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first officially elected homosexual in California.
He was married three times. Her last husband, Richard Blum, died last year.
