Nancy Pelosi landed in hostile territory here in Austin, and made her way to the lectern greeted not by flowers and little Bosnian girls, but by Gina Cooper and a list of pointed questions.
No body armor, circling Black Hawks or evasive maneuvers.
UPDATE: Okay, Nancy, the cavalry's here. You can relax. Al Gore just came onstage. Well played, too: In a Giuliani-esque bit of stagecraft, Pelosi looked to her Blackberry, and started to "read aloud" an "e-mail" from a friend, when Gore's recorded voice came over the convention center's speakers, whereupon he strode out onto the stage. Nicely done, nicely done.
And, more to the point - Pelosi's question period is done, I think. We'll see . . .
I give the Speaker props for agreeing to - indeed, for encouraging - a no-holds-barred appearance before a crowd that has, shall we say, some strong issues with stances and statements she has made over the past two-and-a-half years.
But here she is, 40 feet away from me, answering Gina's questions (and god bless Gina - in her irresistibly you-wanna-pinch-her-cheeks sweet kinda way, she admitted in her intro that, given the opportunity to question the Speaker, she was not about to pass it up) and continuing to answer.
Now, mind you, she's still answering in her diplomatic, vague way much of the time. (NEWS FLASH: Nancy Pelosi is a politician. - eom) But the fact remains that she agreed she and her staff encouraged this event in this format to take place.
As hard as it might be for some to believe, Nancy Pelosi didn't get to be Speaker of the House by wilting under pressure. By agreeing to appear here at Netroots Nation and answer face any question thrown at her, she has demonstrated a level of political courage that many others
As I type this, Pelosi is on her feet, where she has been for the past five minutes. She has taken a question from Jeffrey Feldman (moderating along with Gina) about "big-vision"-type programs, and run with it. That's her prerogative. That's any politician's m.o. - any good politician's, that is. She has turned the question into a stump speech for Barack Obama.
She didn't need to be here. She could easily have had other engagements. Or it would've been far easier for her to have come here last year, or especially the year before that. But she chose to be here today. She elected to land in hostile territory, where there was no guarantee how she would be received.
I give her props for that.