Dianne Feinstein: Heat, Blue Angels and a public memorial missing the public

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s large public memorial was, last night, hastily converted into a large, private memorial. This was awkward. It was awkward to enter between a phalanx of Secret Service agents in kevlar vests with hyperactive Belgian malinois dogs and wander through a barricaded downtown replete with more cops than the closing scenes of “Ghostbusters.”

It was awkward for our elected officials to be hustled out of City Hall by the feds and cease doing government work by 11 a.m. It was awkward for members of the media to be instructed to show up at 10 a.m. and wait three hours and change on the hottest day of the year in an area with no shade (for an event that, inevitably, started late). 

City Hall officials last night expressed no small degree of frustration with the exacting security measures demanded by the Secret Service to accommodate a human Fort Knox of dignitaries. One staffer told me that the silver lining of barring the public from the event was that nobody would die of heat-related causes. 

Or, at least, fewer people will. 

Good thing that the general public had the opportunity to pay its respects to Feinstein yesterday, when her flag-draped casket was placed in the City Hall rotunda. Today it was, again, awkward to be in so public a place, mourning the loss of so public a figure, and find oneself so tangibly separated from the public. Also awkward: Snipers.

What wasn’t awkward was this day. City Hall and its environs were spotless, and it was as clear and bright a day as it was a stiflingly hot one. The Blue Angels roared overhead, drowning out the speakers in mid-word with all the precision you’d expect of the world’s preeminent stunt-flying team. But that wasn’t as awkward as you’d think: Fleet Week was initiated by Mayor Feinstein in 1981. “It’s what Dianne wants,” quipped Rep. Nancy Pelosi while an F/A-18 Super Hornet deafened the crowd and cut her off.

In the run-up to the day’s events, piano music played over the sound system — including a cover of “No Surprises” by Radiohead, oddly — followed by the the unmistakable voice of Tony Bennett. 

“And when I come home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me.“

All of this happened, more or less. 

Reading through obituaries of Dianne Feinstein in which her San Francisco contemporaries were quoted, many noted her belief in decorum, her steely drive, her integrity and her obsessive, even monomaniacal, attention to detail. But Feinstein’s city contemporaries also noted that these traits — and her untiring efforts — were directed toward the betterment of San Francisco.  

So, it was hard to miss: There is a stated or unstated message that, today, this isn’t happening. 

None of today’s speakers were Feinstein’s San Francisco government contemporaries. The inaugural speaker was, in fact, Mayor London Breed. Today’s speakers came to praise Feinstein, not to bury her successors. 

Breed recalled Feinstein standing next to her on the dais at a past gala, whispering guidance in her ear: “That’s Supervisor So-and-So. He lives in West Portal. Ask him about his garden.” 

Feinstein never really stopped being mayor of this town. It tracks that if the current mayor didn’t know about Supervisor So-and-So’s garden, and if no one was there to tell her about it, Feinstein would do it. Today, this isn’t happening.

Vice President Kamala Harris recalled being greeted by Feinstein upon Harris’ 2017 senate swearing-in. “With one hand, she presented me with a glass of California Chardonnay, and with the other hand, a binder full of her draft bills. And, true to her mayoral roots, she was deeply immersed in the details of each bill and how each would play” back in California. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Feinstein “One of the Senate’s great deal-makers. If there was the smallest bit of common ground, she pursued it.” 

Feinstein remained a devotee of bipartisanship in an era increasingly defined by crass and ugly partisanship. This made her appear antiquated and out of step with present-day politics — a present-day politics that that values one-upsmanship and cheap populism over actual governing. Fittingly, Feinstein’s final vote was to keep the government running in the face of a nonsensical, preening shutdown pushed by Congressional Republicans unable to control toxic extremists within their own party.

So, yes, Feinstein’s devotion to bipartisanship appeared to be something of a relic. So is a functional Republican party with which to be bipartisan. Of the scores of Congressional members who attended today’s events, very few were affiliated with the GOP. That’s sad.

Fittingly, after Schumer extolled Feinstein’s bipartisanship and urge to find common ground, the San Francisco Girls’ Chorus gave a rendition of “The Impossible Dream.” 

After Feinstein’s granddaughter, Eileen Feinstein Mariano, left ‘em laughing — apparently our talented former mayor and senator was not so talented a barber — the Girls’ Chorus came out for the finale. 

Their closer, naturally, was “San Francisco” (including the little-remembered preamble). It’s a song that’s old-fashioned and perhaps not fully appreciated by younger people. A song out of step with its times, harking to a different era. But it’s song that, even if it’s not one’s preferred bit of music, is appreciated — a song that resonates for San Franciscans. 

So, that was Dianne Feinstein in a nutshell. And, at least for a few moments, the Blue Angels didn’t drown out the proceedings.

More on Feinstein

Dianne Feinstein: San Francisco’s eternal mayor

by Joe Eskenazi September 29, 2023, 1:18 pmOctober 3, 2023, 12:23 pm

SF pays its respects as Dianne Feinstein lies in state 

by Gilare Zada October 4, 2023, 1:42 pmOctober 5, 2023, 10:48 am

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