Who's Afraid of Amy Klobuchar?

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In a five-year period from 2014 to 2018, according to GovTrack.us, Sen. Klobuchar’s allegedly browbeaten staff helped her co-sponsor 1,967 bills—more than any other senator except Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal. Another study, conducted in 2016, ranked her No. 1 in the Senate in lending her name to bills that were enacted into law. Perhaps her former staffers wouldn’t have become so disgruntled if they’d gotten more sleep.

Another factor that hasn’t been thoroughly explored is something Sen. Klobuchar flicked at on CNN. Before winning her first election in 1998, she spent 14 years in the private sector managing teams at law firms. If she learned about leadership in a rough-and-tumble corporate performance culture, it’s probably safe to assume that she runs her Senate shop a bit differently than a career politician.

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Sen. Klobuchar is clearly wired to be a demanding boss. It’s also possible that the spotlight of the presidential campaign will reveal her to be a genuinely defective one. Either way, she’s likely to lose some employees. Trust and loyalty are fragile, and a single ugly episode can shatter them forever.

The important question for voters to ponder is whether Sen. Klobuchar’s management style is unacceptable, or whether it generally falls inside the range of what’s tolerable for most people. If the former is true, she shouldn’t be elected. If it’s the latter, however, there’s a strong argument for letting her be. A time then when good leaders are hard to find is a terrible moment to toss out every candidate on the aggressive side of the spectrum.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-amy-klobuchar-overcorrection-11551457088 (paid subscription)

—Mr. Walker is the author of “The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams” (Random House).