Feb 28th, 2017, 12:23 AM

An Evening With Tim Kaine

By Tara Jamali
Image Credit: Politico.com
Virginia Senator attempts to rebuild America's global image on European trip

Senator Tim Kaine loves being in Paris. He has friends here he's known since his days as chair of the Democratic Party. Last week, he was back in the City of Light for the first time after the tumultuous presidential elections last year. In a fundraising event at the house of a close friend in the 7th arrondissement, he was to address his supporters - many of them members of Democrats Abroad Paris - on recent events going on in the Senate and White House. Naturally, everyone wants to know what it was like for him to run alongside Hillary Clinton.

Although he did not know Hillary very well until about two weeks before she asked him to be her running mate, he was extremely honored to be considered for the position. Hillary Clinton was chosen as the most admired woman in the United States 17 times in the Gallup polls. But as someone on the ballot for President, with modern politics and negative ads being what they are, the 2D version of the candidate was made to look vastly different than the 3D version."If people knew the 3D Hillary, this might not even have been close," he says. She’s not perfect and I’m not either as a person or as a candidate, but she would have been a superb president, I really believe that."

During every speech, he had always told Hillary that he was counting on her as the underdog until they call them the winner. It was because she was trying to do something never been done before. Beyond the concept of a first female president, the US has a poor track record in electing women to federal office. Women make up 19% of the members of Congress, placing the US at 75th in the world, dramatically below the global average. "There’s not an accident about that, for reasons that I understand and some that I don’t. It’s not something we’ve been good at. But I did go into election day thinking, without being cocky about it, that we’ll be OK."

Image Credit: Tara Jamali

In his years as Mayor of Richmond, and Governor of Virginia, it was imperative for Kaine and his wife, Anne, to give Virginia a strong voice in national politics.  At 7:45 pm on election night, they realized they were going to win Virginia by a bigger margin than President Obama did 4 years ago. For as long and as hard as they had worked to get Virginia to catch up in national politics, they thought they would win Virginia by a big margin. "So for an hour and 45 minutes I was irrationally exuberant," he says. "But as Virginia was moving ahead, everybody else was standing still, other states that had traditionally been reliable are not. A very tough election."

Kaine was back in the Senate one week after election day, coming to realize things happened the way they did for a reason, even if one can’t figure out the reason.

"There are certainly some things I can talk about that affected the campaign, but the bottom line is, 66 million of us are really disappointed. A subset of the 66 million are personally afraid. And what gets me up every day to go to work is I got to have the back of the people who are afraid, and I’m very energized to do that. Whether it’s young women starting off on careers, wondering if so many people think it’s OK to put a guy in the White House who treats women so badly, wondering if they’re going to be treated that way, or it’s Latino kids who think they’re going to be deported, or folks worrying about LGBT equality being rolled back, or people thinking the Paris Climate Accord may be torn up, there are a lot of people who are afraid."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Members of Democrats  Abroad France listen to Kaine. Image Credit:Tara Jamali

Ten days after returning to the Senate, he received a letter from a 4th grade girl named Penelope: "Dear Senator Kaine, I’m so sorry you’re not Vice President. But you still are in the Senate, and that’s important. Can you stop some of my classmates from being deported?” Attached to the letter was a drawing of Kaine in a cape, with the motto “Be the Hero.” He took the letter to his staff retreat shortly after, saying this is what they had to do - be heroic at a time when so many feel worried and afraid.

This year marks the 230th anniversary of the American Constitution. September 17 is Constitution Day, otherwise known as "I'm an American" day.  Those who framed the Constitution had come from an era of monarchs and emperors, and knew what executives in power were capable of doing. So they put in powerful checks and established accountability systems, such as an independent congress, an independent court system, free press, and the right of the people to peacefully assemble and petition their government for redress of grievances. Kaine defines this moment in history as the American constitutional democracy being taken in for a checkup, believing that the system will eventually be victorious over a particularly unfortunate occupant of the executive. "I think the checks and balances in our system will vindicate our country. But we will probably absorb some losses, pain, and challenges along the way. We already have, and there are likely to be more. But I do think the system will protect us from the worst abuses of this president."

While Democrats in the Senate are uniformly worried about this President, Kaine is in the camp of opposing where it matters, and not opposing on everything. He has supported the President on certain issues and supported certain appointees he believes can instill necessary change in the system. But he has also been rock solid against the White House on many issues, knowing that many Republicans in the Senate are as worried about this President as the Democrats. "They worry about him because they think he’ll hurt the country," he says. "They worry about him because they think he’ll hurt the party, and with low approval ratings. They worry about him because they don’t really view him as a Republican, and think he’s kind of a free agent who stole the mantle, that he’s not really one of them."

TIm Kaine and I. Image Credit: Mary Tabaie

Kaine has vowed to remain rock solid against any rollback on equality, any discrimination based on religion, any immigration order or travel ban, and repeal of the Affordable Care Act. He has also stood rock solid against a number of nominees that he felt were unqualified, ethically compromised, or too ideological to do the job. Most of his work in the Senate concerns his committees, the armed services and foreign relations.

"Seventy five percent of what I do concerns the role of America in the world, which obviously everyone now is very nervous about, and it’s been embarrassing and chastening. But even that can sometimes be the start of a rebuild." Trump being an unpredictable president is no secret, but the one area where he may be the most unpredictable is in the global policy sphere. Therefore rebuilding the global image of the U.S is a strong drive behind Kaine's current trip to Europe. After Paris, he plans to spend a day in the Vatican discussing refugee issues, and is scheduled to give a speech on foreign policy at Chatham House in London.

It is also imperative for him to reassure American allies of a continuity of American support of democracies and democratic establishments in the world, regardless of what the current administration does. "I am going to face a tough race in 2018, and many of my colleagues will too," he says. "The map is not good for Democrats in the Senate in 2018, so maintaining a strong democratic presence is vital." In some ways, he believes in his role as Senator more for what he could do vis-à-vis a President he disagrees with, than what he could do with a President he agrees with. He believes the Senate was set up to be a check against things that were too hasty or executive overreach, and that the present moment is one of testing the systems.

He expresses his admiration for those who participated in the Women’s March in Paris and elsewhere. It excites him to see the spontaneous home grown and locally organized peaceful activism of Americans at home and worldwide, but stresses the importance of keeping it up. "I do think the system will vindicate our country over the choice of an unfortunate occupant of the White House. It won’t be straight lined, we won’t win everything. But I feel very confident about the grassroots energy that’s out there. So thank you for being here, for being so passionate, and helping me out."