How Amy Klobuchar's complex relationship with her father has shaped her pragmatic approach to politics

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wants to stage an intervention.

The 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful thinks what the U.S. needs now is a "teller of hard truths," who can use "old-school Democratic pragmatism" to get the country back on track, writes The Washington Post.

Klobuchar, a relatively centrist Democrat, is building a platform focused on infrastructure and bipartisanism rather than more progressive policies like Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal. The strategy comes from a belief that the U.S. needs an intervention, not a revolution, writes the Post.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Her pragmatism is not surprising given her upbringing with her father, Jim Klobuchar, the Post reports. The elder Klobuchar was a star columnist for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, known for providing a "voice to the voiceless." He was an also alcoholic, who would drive under the influence with his daughter in the passenger seat and miss childhood birthdays. But the future senator remained by her father's side all despite all that, intent on trying to help him, the Post reports.

One moment in particular has reportedly informed Klobuchar's presidential campaign. In 1993, Jim Klobuchar was arrested for drunk driving and at his sentencing hearing, Amy Klobuchar took the stand — as the prosecution. She used his past failings in her arguments, but she also told him that she loved him and that he needed to get help with his addiction.

That, the Post writes, is how Klobuchar is running her 2020 campaign — hoping the "hard truths" will prove useful. But "as with any intervention," the Post warns, "the trick will be getting people to listen." Read the full story at The Washington Post.