There sees to be an odd narrative being floated out there about Governor Kristi Noem trying to get back to Washington… despite the fact that 3 years ago she decided to leave a safe congressional seat to consciously get out of the beltway, and come back to the state.
It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. And if I have to be honest, I think it smacks of more than a bit of sexism, because not just the media, but many others seem to be trying to paint their own portrait of who Kristi Noem is or what she’s thinking based on their own warped preconceptions of how she should be behaving.
The problem with the stories they’re trying to tell is that she wasn’t elected to be Governor by a majority of the state’s citizens because she’s supposed to “behave” in some way. She’s her own person, she was elected to lead, and that’s what she’s doing.
If you haven’t read it yet, there’s a great article out there by Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist which walks through how Governor Noem is leading during the COVID19 crisis, as well as discusses some of the ‘mansplaining’ that the media is going through, claiming to know her mind.
The latest media attack on Noem comes from out-of-state reporter Thomas Beaumont, filing from Iowa, and his colleague Stephen Groves, both of the Associated Press. It’s a bizarre piece. The article begins with an unflattering photograph of Noem, a difficult feat given how attractive the governor is. (Noem was rated the most beautiful member of Congress when she served in the House.)
The two men who wrote the article purport to get into the governor’s mind and ascertain that her policy goals are driven not by her leadership or rational decision making but by emotion and naked ambition. It is unclear why they believe they’re qualified to perform this type of analysis, much less how these men developed their theories about this woman’s political path. Courageous leadership is certainly a way to stand out, but comes with extremely high risk in our media environment, as articles such as this attest. It would seem that a more ambitious politician would attempt to find safety in the herd. They admit that the media politically oppose the governor but suggest that they’re not alone, “It’s not just the media who have questioned her approach,” they write.
and…
Nowhere in the article is it mentioned that a Tax Foundation analysis shows that South Dakota has the lowest percentage in the country of a state’s workforce filing unemployment claims. Nowhere in the article is last week’s parade in honor of the governor mentioned. The parade featured hundreds of cars, and one horse.
The article is good guidance on what the Governor is actually doing. She’s making her own decisions, and not worrying about what values that armchair quarterbacks are trying to assign.
Governor Noem is going to do what she feels is correct and be judged by history. Period. Not by people who who are trying to sell newspapers.
Nice posting Pat, I think you are exactly correct.
Anybody who has been around here knows I’ve had my criticisms of Kristi Noem, both as a candidate for Governor and as Governor. And, I don’t expect to agree with her on every policy going forward either.
Sometimes I’ve been rather harsh. OK. Very harsh. And, you don’t even know the private communications I had in this regard. All of which I now know how very wrong I was and am sorry.
But, I will tell you I have three impressions of her that will not change because these impressions were proven under fire.
1) Governor Noem is a strong leader who understands the grave responsibility of being in such an office in times of crisis. The people have no choice but to look to leadership and follow for to do otherwise is chaos and results in “every man for himself.” She took that mantle and lead with courage. Both nationally and her in this state (especially from the Mayor’s of the two largest cities), there was a lot of pressure to conform to the consensus of the day (shelter at home, shut-down) but she not only resisted quietly. She put on her “Braveheart” war paint, looked us in the eyes, and told us we didn’t have to give into fear and panic but “we can do this” without massive collateral damage to our lives now and on the other side.
2) Governor Noem sees the long-term. She understood beating Covid was not the only objective but we had to also be able to come out on the other side healthy. It was more than thinking of the economy and jobs but remembering isolation impacts those who are depressed or living in recovery. Remembering every home isn’t blissful in which locking everyone together has its own dangers.
3) Governor Noem is smart. Really smart in a practical real world way. She quickly identified all the objectives (flatten the curve, consider the unintended consequences, find the optimal way to reach the objectives, remember the citizens are free and will respond better and longer if led (vs. forced), etc.) and kept them at the forefront. This allowed her to adjust to realities and new information because she wasn’t wedded to a policy or an action but to the objectives.
And, look at the outcome so far: South Dakota is among the very lowest in the nation with regard to per capita hospitalizations and deaths. South Dakota has suffered the very least with regard to growth in unemployment. Because of her great leadership, ALL of us should be very proud. Agree or disagree with her on a host of other issues, how can one complain about being #1 or #2 on objectives which everyone saying it was a binary choice of “lives with collateral damage” or “economy* and death.”
Don’t get me wrong. I hear her message we still have to be diligent and finish the job. Wash our hands, be safe, and especially continue to protect the elderly and vulnerable.
*To be clear, I never thought it was about the economy or money for its own sake but general public health on the other side of dignity from being able to work, feed one’s family, long-term security for one’s family, healthy mind and relationships, safety from crime and domestic abuse, capacity to deal with challenges like depression or addictions, etc.
My Ag related job takes me to a large part of this country and since this Covid deal started I’ve been working from home. So now I spend the better part of my time on the phone with customers. A common discussion point is the Covid deal, plus the shutdown requirements that each state has instituted. My continued take away from those visits is that we should feel fortunate enough to have Krisit as a Governor. The other takeaway is her handling of the situation is being watched from afar by a lot of corporations/company leaders. I’m sure going forward when companies expand they’ll look at how the states leadership handled this situation and if they can continue to operate in their current situation if the Corvid type of thing happens again or do they need to make a move to an area where their operation can continue to operate under our states situation. I still get a chuckle from one customer that continues to call the governor of Illinois “Governor Fathead” – priceless.