Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Shelley Mays, MBR / Associated Press Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, STF / Associated Press

It’s difficult to watch even now — that graceless moment during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation when he cracked under pressure, shattering the fine shell of judicial temperament and hurling contempt at a senator across the room.

That senator, whose name many Americans couldn’t pronounce at the time, asked if Kavanaugh had ever drunk so much he couldn’t recall the previous night. No, he responded before turning the question back on Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who only moments before had described her father’s struggle with alcoholism.

“I’m curious if you have,” Kavanaugh said, his mouth twisted with rage.

“I have no drinking problem, judge,” Klobuchar responded calmly.

“Nor do I,” the judge huffed. After a break, Kavanaugh apologized to Klobuchar and reiterated his respect for her.

There in that exchange, we see some of what plagues American political discourse and one thing that can save it: a strong leader who can outwit anger, rise above contempt and exercise the good sense to walk us back from the edge rather than push us closer to it.

For Democrats, that person is Amy Klobuchar, the third-term senator from Minnesota.

Said to be surging after her head-turning third-place finish in New Hampshire, Klobuchar, 59, the daughter of an elementary teacher and newspaperman, had been dismissed by some as a milquetoast, midwestern moderate who couldn’t hold a candle to the burn of Bernie Sanders’ revolution or the ambition of Elizabeth Warren’s fully foot-noted vision.

“Being a progressive, the last time I checked, meant that you should make progress,” Klobuchar says.

It’s time for Democrats to look beyond fiery speeches, beyond big ticket promises devoid of price tags, and if possible, beyond the cinematic beckoning of that billionaire button-down Messiah stalking your smartphone, and ask: Who can really get things done?

Who can get proposals past the gauntlets of the federal judiciary and congressional gridlock? In the current field only Klobuchar and Joe Biden have a track record of bipartisan effectiveness in Washington. Biden, in his third bid for president, hasn’t articulated the fresh vision needed.

Klobuchar is among the most effective lawmakers in Congress, according to the Center for Effective Lawmaking. She boasts passing more than 100 bills, “every one of them bipartisan.”

In her first term, she was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing a comprehensive immigration overhaul including a pathway to citizenship for 12 million undocumented immigrants — reform she still believes is “completely doable.” Her experience on the Senate Judiciary Committee is notable and particularly on the subcommittee that oversees issues important to Texas: border, immigration and citizenship.

In 2018, Klobuchar partnered with Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn and others to pass legislation signed by President Donald Trump that strengthens efforts to reduce the national rape kit backlog.

Not to suggest Klobuchar is “Minnesota Nice.” Indeed, reports from former staffers about how far she veers from nice are troubling. Just ask the staffer whom she demanded wash a hair comb she MacGyvered into an eating utensil after he delivered her salad without a fork.

Sure, plenty of bad-tempered male candidates have emerged unscathed from similar reports. But if Klobuchar wants Americans to believe she’s the decent, empathetic antidote to Trump, she should prove it with her staff.

One of Klobuchar’s refreshing traits is her straight-forwardness in responding to criticism. She admits that she’s been too tough on staff at times. Regarding a much more serious allegation, that as Hennepin County attorney her office sent an innocent black teen, Myon Burrell, to prison for life, Klobuchar was quick to say all evidence should be reviewed.

The case isn’t helping her gain trust among black voters, whose support and knowledge of her are already dismal. She says her efforts to end voting purges and gerrymandering, which erode black voting power, speak to her commitment to equal rights.

Many of the issues Klobuchar speaks passionately about, such as economic opportunity, cut across demographic lines.

From supporting a $15 federal minimum wage to her very personal pledge to invest in research, prevention and treatment of addiction and mental illness, Klobuchar seems driven to improve Americans’ daily lives. She eschews “Medicare for All” for a pragmatic public option. She has a strong record on combatting gun violence, and has prioritized universal background checks, funding research and closing the ‘boyfriend loophole’ — all commonsense reforms that she says won’t hurt responsible gun owners such as the oft-mentioned “Uncle Dick in his deer stand.”

She supports California-style mileage standards and opposes a fracking ban, instead seeing natural gas as a “transition fuel,” but her goals on climate change are aggressive: 45 percent reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2050.

Above all, Klobuchar has the secret sauce many Democrats prize most: electability.

A candidate whose presidential election would make history, her crossover appeal in and of itself packs a powerful punch. Democrats need someone who can stare down a bully while keeping an eye out for the little guy, someone who can grow the ranks, not divide them. Klobuchar is the woman for the job.