What we have here is a historic event. And a pitiful press corps.
Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi became the first woman our democratic system has placed in a national leadership role. She is now third in line to the Presidency. And the media reaction ... Democratic disarray! Nancy's a loooz-r!
It's a tawdry tale of a shallow DC press world, but the most important part of it is the stereotyping, and the latent sexism that still runs through our society ... so jump below, and--special bonus--we'll take a look at how the NYTimes treated the exact same situation in 1994 ...
First, I want to do take this opportunity to do something I think should be done: congratulate Nancy Pelosi on a truly groundbreaking achievement. The lingering cultural associations with women in power positions ("rhymes with `witch'") still put barriers in the way of women as capable as Pelosi. To overcome that and not only preside over the House, but lead her caucus into such an historic takeover at such a critical time, shows true leadership and foresight. I'm proud to be a member of the party that, once again, broke a major barrier for this country.
But, goddammit. The DC press corps is among the most shallow, worthless, intellectually dishonest institutions in our country. They make the reality show industry look like the Continental Congress. They simply can't get stupid, dishonest stereotypes out of their heads. There's been a lot of talk about "story-lines" and how important they are to press coverage of politics. But let's get to the root of the problem: that's no different from the "story-lines" placed on any group of people, like races, religions, sexes, or residents of regions. And two big ones are on display right now:
The first, of course: Democrats can't stick together. This old chestnut is the stuff of jokes and endless political chatter. And, like many stereotypes, there's a germ of truth to it. Liberals tend to be a lot more process-oriented, believing in quaint notions like democracy and free and open debate. Which leads to more discussion. But ... there's a point where the "germ of truth" becomes a ridiculous stereotype. And we're long past that point now.
Leadership fights are very common. Extremely common. In fact, in 1994, when the GOP took over the House, Newt Gingrich had a handpicked person in line for Majority Whip. But, a Texan named Tom Delay fought for the seat and won. Here's how the NYTimes led their story about the leadership elections that year:
Representative Newt Gingrich was unanimously chosen today to be Speaker of the House by ecstatic Republicans chanting "Newt, Newt, Newt," and he told them that the way to get rid of bad Federal programs was simply not to provide any money for them. Nominated for the post by Republicans who called him "a revolutionary" and a "visionary," Mr. Gingrich, a Georgian, talked for an hour about the America he would like to help fashion and the hard work ahead for the House.
Pardon me while I gag. And here's how they led the story about the Democrats leadership elections yesterday:
House Democrats chose Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland as their new majority leader today, rejecting the choice of incoming speaker Nancy J. Pelosi and straining the unity of the new majority party.
Oh, good freakin' lord. Two parties in nearly the exact same situation: Speaker elected unanimously, members reject the choice of the Speaker for another leadership position. In fact, it's probably worse in the GOP's case because Hoyer was in line for the role from his role as Minority Whip, whereas Delay was not in as strong a position. But, the Democrats are in disarray and led by a weakling.
Which leads us to our second stereotype. Now, this one's underground, but it's even more important than the other because you'll see it subtly in a lot of messaging from the GOP: women are weak. And if they aren't, they're bitches.
You'll see this a whole lot in GOP messaging. The whole "San Francisco values" thing won't stick, and it'll be dropped soon (already has, really ... although it'll stick somewhat in the true red areas). The GOP is all about code words, and "San Francisco values" is code for "gay." Just like "New York values" is code for "Jewish." Problem is, Nancy Pelosi is obviously not gay, and simple talk about her grandchildren blows that out of the water. But she is a woman, so watch for this ...
The GOP minions will call her "weak" repeatedly. They'll say things like, "she is having trouble controlling the men under her." And sometimes they'll get more explicit. I don't know exactly how, but it'll be with metaphors, like calling her a "mother hen having trouble controlling the flock" or something like that. "The gavel rests uneasy in Speaker Pelosi's hands" is how RedState put it in their post that called her "weak."
But, they won't stop there, because the other side of the "women are weak" sexism is that when they aren't weak, they're being "catty" or "bitchy." Again, they won't come out and say that (well, maybe Barbara Bush will), but it'll be there. Watch for Ann Coulter, in particular, to go nuts on this theme. She's the GOP operative of choice for getting nasty memes in the media-stream, and she's a woman. Witness her attack on the 9/11 widows. Ann will say something in astonishingly poor taste about Pelosi, probably using some reference to cats and claws, and then the GOP pundits will spend lots of time debating whether she went over the line, pushing the theme out there.
And, don't forget, there are plenty of other sexist tropes out there that the GOP can draw on ... women are hysterical, women aren't rational, blah, blah, blah.
It's all a toxic stew that will have an effect unless we as Democrats call it out repeatedly. We have to know what's happening, and we need to call people on their shit. Sexism, like racism, is less overt these days, but it's not gone by any means. And it's only by dragging it out into the light can it be combated.
And Nancy Pelosi needs to be recognized for the amazing feat she has pulled off, for her strong leadership and steady hand at the wheel of the Congressional Democrats.
Ironically, it's Tom Delay who has done the best job of giving Nancy Pelosi her due. On a panel discussing the possibilities for Time's Person of the Year award, Delay said:
"I'm going to shock you," said he. "I think the real Person of the Year ought to be Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker of the House. She worked for years putting a strategy together, building a huge coalition. She held the Democrats together in the House like I have never seen before. She is going to change America!"
Hey, journalists? When Tom freakin' Delay gives a better sense of Nancy Pelosi's accomplishments than you do, I think you should rethink what you're doing.