But first, a little treat -- here's what Senator Chuck Schumer, who championed Gillibrand's appointment as Senator, said about Gillibrand's behind-the-scenes work on the 9/11 health care bill (h/t, Liz Benjamin):
She did an amazing job. She never gave up in the darkest of days and was indomitable.
You know, some of these senators said: "Would you stop her from bothering me?" And I said: "No!" And the result of all that hard work we see today. What a great victory for a new legislator, isn't that fabulous. For any legislator, but for someone this new to do so much so soon is utterly amazing.
Liz headlined that post, "Botherer-in-Chief."
Halbfinger's piece is remarkable, given that the Times was extremely antagonistic to Gillibrand's appointment and regularly championed potential primary challengers like Harold Ford.
So there's some irony in this bit:
Once derided as an accidental senator, lampooned for her verbosity and threatened with many challengers who openly doubted her abilities, a succinct, passionate and effective Senator Gillibrand has made her presence felt in the final days of this Congress.
On DADT, Gillibrand's efforts helped jump-start the languishing repeal campaign, in part by arguing for and getting the first Senate hearing ever.
Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee which held the hearing, recalls Gillibrand's persistence:
She's been a bird dog on this. She is not shy about her views, and pressing her views and talking to anybody and everybody, on the floor and not on the floor, and in office visits, and in the hallways.
Gillibrand's reaction after Admiral Mike Mullen chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, endorsed repeal at the hearing:
My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe how powerful that testimony was, and I knew, at that moment, we were going to repeal the policy.
Gillibrand's effectiveness is being noticed in D.C.:
Even her relentlessness, which once drew mockery, is now earning the highest compliment of all: professional jealousy from her more senior colleagues.
"To have gone from a virtual unknown to being a major player on some landmark legislation in such a short period of time just shows what Kirsten is capable of," said Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy for MoveOn.org.
snip
Richard Socarides, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and founder of Equality Matters, a gay advocacy organization, said he was initially wary of Ms. Gillibrand, thinking she was courting gays for purely political reasons as she sought to broaden her appeal statewide.
But she won him over with her fervor, strategic thinking, fearlessness and litigator's tenacity. "If she has decided she's going to get something done," he said, "don't get in her way, because you will get run over."
This is the best story about Senator Gillibrand ever in the nation's major newspaper.
By her senatorial assiduity and effectiveness, Gillibrand has well-earned this reappraisal that will surely spread to other major media now that the Times has finally recognized Gillibrand's essential excellence.
Pillifant writes that Gillibrand is on a roll, winning her first election in November in a landslide, getting lots of media coverage (and winning) on DADT and 9/11 health care, and "staking out a role as a progressive champion for New York's liberal base."
And he notes that Chris Matthews called Gillibrand "one of the stars of the Senate."
Pillifant talked to a lot of people about Giilibrand, like Robert Zimmerman, Democratic National Committee member and a party fund-raiser:
She emerged from this campaign as a senator with national stature. For any individual who's thrust into the U.S. Senate, you either grow or you fail. What I think really distinguished her was her ability to champion issues and the attention she got from that. It has really defined her as a real fighter for New York, and that's critical.
And Rep. Anthony Weiner:
She's going to be there as long as she wants to. She definitely has the chops to be a great senator.
And Schumer, of course:
I think she's doing a great job. It's the only job where two people have the same job. And when Hillary got there, I'd only been there two years and, you know, we're both hardworking, aggressive people, but we learned quickly that it was better for us -- for New York, and for us -- to work together, and we did, and we formed a great team.
And Kirsten and I have become a great team, too. And, you know, it's much better to have a strong partner, and she is.
Gillibrand has to run for re-election in 2012, and GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway claims that national Republicans will be more active then than they were this year.
All of the senators running in 2012 will be asked a simple question: "What did you do for the economy and how many jobs did you create?"
Her positions on guns and abortion and gay marriage -- O.K., got it, that makes for great copy -- but it's just not what's driving the electorate of New York. And she'll be the most prominent New York elected official on the ticket being asked, "What have you done for me lately?"
Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said that Obama at the top of the ticket should help Gillibrand, but:
She's coming up in the right year. Having said that, I still don't regard her as one of the stronger incumbents, I don't care what percentage she got.
That was 63 percent in a Republican wave year, and presumably means something.
Kornacki's story concentrates on DADT in the context of how it helped Gillibrand connect with downstate liberals who were leery of her as an appointed Senator.
He argues that DADT repeal "probably would been achieved with or without Gillibrand in the Senate," but does credit Gillibrand's hard work in ensuring that it was repealed in the lame-duck session:
It is worth recognizing the 18-month campaign that Gillibrand waged to end DADT.
She helped publicize the plight of Lt. Dan Choi, the West Point graduate who was discharged from the Army for acknowledging that he is gay; pushed for Senate hearings on DADT repeal (none had been held since the policy was implemented in 1994); and made the case against the policy in numerous media appearances.
Gillibrand worked this issue much harder than most of her colleagues and all of her efforts helped ensure Saturday's result.
Kornacki adds that "the repeal fight also helped Gillibrand establish her own political identity in the Senate and with New Yorkers, and to develop her own voice."
As a result, "Gillibrand's Senate tenure is now shaping up to be a long one. And for the first time, she now has a chance to think beyond her own immediate political survival."
There will be more media reappraisals of Gillibrand in coming weeks, and fair-minded ones will have to conclude that she has become a remarkably effective Senator, after less than two years in the job.
Gillibrand will continue to fight effectively for Democratic values in the next Congress, and that will make her even more of a target for the Republicans in 2012, when she will again need our support. |
