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Title Page

Summary of

The Joy of Politics

Summary of Amy Klobuchar’s book

Surviving Cancer, a Campaign, a Pandemic, an Insurrection, and Life's

Other Unexpected Curveballs

GP SUMMARY

Summary of The Joy of Politics by Amy Klobuchar: Surviving Cancer, a Campaign, a Pandemic, an Insurrection, and Life's Other Unexpected Curveballs

Author: GP SUMMARY

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Editing, proofreading: GP SUMMARY

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NOTE TO READERS

This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Amy Klobuchar’s “The Joy of Politics: Surviving Cancer, a Campaign, a Pandemic, an Insurrection, and Life's Other Unexpected Curveballs” designed to enrich your reading experience.

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The Path

In July 2020, the author and her husband, John, took a long driving trip out west. John had been sick with COVID and had pneumonia and his oxygen saturation levels fell below 70 percent. After six days in the hospital, John was fine, except for one long-haul symptom: he claimed the dust in their basement prevented him from cleaning out the basement again. John's illness had put a lot of things in perspective, and this long driving trip was a time to talk about it. Being a congressional political spouse is a whole thing and it's often a raw deal.

The most important details in this text are that the author almost lost her husband, John, in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. This was a year when a disease so utterly horrible came out of nowhere and took many people's lives, and the author almost lost her husband in a hospital. The author's story is an example of how a political spouse's story can get exaggerated and larger than life over time. The author's story is about how the author almost lost her husband, John, in 2020 due to the pandemic. John and the author embarked on a ten-day trip to the West Coast in July 2020, when both the Midwest and Western states were experiencing a brief reprieve from the spread of the virus.

The murder of George Floyd had ripped apart Minnesota and the nation, and the prosecution of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder was in the hands of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. The author knew that when they returned from the trip they needed to go full-on back to their work in the Senate and do everything they could to help the Biden campaign win in November. The narrator and their husband, John, drove to the Black Hills in July, coincided with Donald Trump's pre-Fourth of July rally in front of Mount Rushmore. As they drove past ranches and farms and eastern South Dakota flatland, the narrator listened to a radio station dissecting the appropriateness of the Trump administration's use of Mount Rushmore for the fireworks. As they filled up the car at a gas station, the narrator realized they were sharing the gas pumps and hot asphalt parking lot with legions of eager Trump supporters on their way to the rally.

The narrator realized that the election results were in and everything was okay. The U.S. Capitol insurrection, Donald Trump's impeachment, and Native American protesters outside of Mount Rushmore were the least of Donald Trump's worries that summer. After spending the night in Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota, the author drove west to the Tetons, a park of spiritual renewal for their family. They once bicycled 1,100 miles in ten days in 1981, but never saw a rattlesnake. Now, nearly thirty years later, the author is back, tracing the old bike route by car to Jackson, Wyoming, at the foot of the Teton mountains.

The narrator and their husband John were on a camping trip in Wyoming during the early days of the pandemic. They ate COVID-era boxed take-out food with plastic forks in their hotel room, roamed the streets, and visited landmarks such as the Silver Spur Cafe, the Snake River, the Wagon Wheel hotel, the Chapel of the Transfiguration, Jackson Lake Lodge, herds of buffalo, the occasional bear, and a moose. During the day, John and the narrator hiked, which was spectacular due to the early days of the pandemic. There was a personal health backstory to the trip, as the narrator had been in the hospital for a long-overdue hip replacement four months before they left for Wyoming. The narrator had a hip surgery in the middle of the presidential campaign, and was able to return to work on crutches five days later.

Four months later, the narrator felt good enough to hike, but her hip and leg started to hurt and she couldn't finish the hike. Her husband, John, was supportive and helped her to finish the hike. He cajoled her to rest for a half an hour and finish the hike like she always did. The narrator is struggling to finish a hike, out of the presidential race, in pain, and in the middle of a pandemic. They take out crackers, salami, and trail mix and decide to be happy on a beautiful rock on a stunning part of the trail.

John is unsettled by their sudden indifference to the charted goal, but he eventually gives up and begins climbing solo. The narrator is thankful for all they have and vowed to be thankful for what they have instead of focusing on what they've missed out on. At peace on the rock, the narrator remembers the story of a writer who was dying of cancer and decided to write her own obituary to leave for her children. The narrator's daughter was college-bound in a few weeks, and the narrator decided to share wisdom with her. The narrator's daughter wrote a humorous essay about the incident, noting that no matter what happened that week, it was always the same answer: the obstacles are the path.

On the Teton trail, the narrator was interrupted by an older couple, equipped with matching bright orange L.L.Bean jackets and ski poles. The narrator is a lone woman with a blue bandanna on a boulder in the middle of a trail four months after having her hip replaced. She is celebrating her accomplishment and is surprised to see two kids who had passed her an hour ago. They both pause and look up at the mountains around them, and the chance encounter reminds the narrator that life is too short to waste on regrets, what-might-have-beens, or negativity brought on by life's unexpected challenges.

The Call

On Monday, March 1, 2021, the Piper Breast Center in Minneapolis called the narrator about a test they had taken the Friday before. The narrator was diagnosed with Stage 1A breast cancer, which is better than some other stages, but still cancer. The narrator needs to find a breast cancer specialist and plan a treatment. The narrator is leading an investigation of what went wrong on January 6th with U.S. Capitol security, and the narrator needs to find a doctor to help them lead those hearings.

The speaker is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and has asked Dick Durbin to join him as the lead author on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, also known as “VAWA.” The speaker has been trying to pass a related bill closing the “boyfriend loophole” since 2013, which would stop domestic abusers from going out and buying a gun after they had been convicted of domestic abuse. The provision had actually made it into the House-passed version of the reauthorization of VAWA. The narrator wanted to lead the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, but Senators Patrick Leahy and Dianne Feinstein had dibs. The narrator had been making this request for a long time, but Dick Durbin explained why it wasn't in the cards and noted the Senate Republicans' objections to including their provision to close the boyfriend loophole. The clerk's repetitious recitation of the senators' names continued, making the narrator think Dick's news would have really pissed them off.

The narrator was faced with a setback in the Senate when two senior members wanted to lead a domestic violence gun safety bill. The narrator responded with a flippant "Whatever" and vowed to find a way to pass the bill. However, two mass shootings in the spring of 2022 created the impetus to finally pass the bill. The narrator's cancer phone call had changed their life, but nothing else had changed. The narrator

Imprint

Publisher: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Publication Date: 05-10-2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-4200-4

Dedication:
Amy Klobuchar's memoir is an intimate and revelatory account of her personal challenges, political turmoil, and the state of American democracy.

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