First, a Tale of Three Friends
The rhetoric surrounding Nancy Pelosi, the current minority leader and future Speaker of the House has been steadily ratcheting up as we are now a few weeks short of the Midterm elections.
Republicans, lacking anything resembling a program other than more money being siphoned off for the upper 1% of the population in the form of outright tax reductions, business regulatory takedowns and sweetheart defense contracts, are doing their usual electoral sleight of hand and doing their best to make the midterms all about Pelosi as the new Speaker.
Two close friends of mine couldn’t be more different from each other when it comes to their lifestyles. One, John, is a retired executive with a very well known Wall Street brokerage, and the other, Frank, is probably a kind of ne’er-do-well in the real estate business who never made much in his working years and presently lives off of not much more that his Social Security check and looks to the Veterans Administration for his healthcare as a result of being a combat soldier in Vietnam.
John came from a well to do family in upstate New York, went to an Ivy League school and, from graduation onward was on an uptick his whole working life. Frank, on the other hand, came from a dysfunctional family in Hawaii, managed one year at Syracuse University, was drafted into the Army, became an alcoholic and lived most of life on the expectation of his ship coming in selling land and houses in Colorado. Somewhere along the way he found AA and began a recovery which has never ended.
Two men, a world apart yet united in a raging hatred of Nancy Pelosi and, I add, both of whom I am enormously fond and proud to call my friends. When I asked either of them why they feel that way about her, the answer is that Pelosi is “crooked” or “a classic liberal tax-and-spender” or any one of a dozen variations of that description of her. Well, what should I expect from a couple of doctrinaire Republicans. But when pressed for something more specific than some generalized label of “crooked” they are hard pressed to give me “chapter and verse” as to how they came to that conclusion. In being so unable to be rational they kind of confirm my suspicion that there is a unequal correlation between conservative political views and general political awareness and intelligence. Conservatives seem far more likely to be emotional rather than rational.
It is senseless for me to argue with either Frank or John about Pelosi (or Hillary Clinton or Liz Warren, for that matter.) All three of us usually stay clear of politics when we get together.
The new kids on the block ain’t like the old kids on the block
This new class of Democratic candidates for Congress seem to be being sucked into the Pelosi controversy being so ably managed by the Republican operatives. Many of these would-be new Democratic members of Congress—and not a few incumbents— are disavowing Nancy Pelosi. Upwards of two dozen Democratic Congresspeople have pledged to vote against Pelosi for Speaker. Admittedly, some of these candidates are running in strong Republican districts but why the abject cave-in to Pelosihass? Pelosi was the most effective Speaker of the House probably since Tip O’Neil.
- Pelosi shepherded the ACA through an absolutely hostile Congress for President Obama.
- Pelosi prevented Social Security from being privatized and accessed by Wall St. (Anyone still remember the 2007 meltdown?).
- Pelosi called for the resignation of Duncan Hunter (R-CA) for using his campaign account as a private piggy bank, to the tune of a quarter million dollars.
- Pelosi was a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
- Pelosi actively supports freedom for Tibet.
- Pelosi supported financial reform.
- Pelosi supported The Lily Ledbetter Act for fair pay for women.
- Pelosi supported doing away with “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and supports same-sex marriage.
All the above are standard liberal/progressive positions.
When Nancy Pelosi took over the speakership she inherited a House so divided it was impossible to count on a single Republican vote for anything, and so had to wrangle legislation with only votes from her own party, not all of whom were blue district Democrats, yet she was enormously successful at it. In short, she’s had a remarkable career.
So I ask, why all the change in outlook about this remarkable legislator? Is it because she’s old now? Is it because she is a woman (and a successful one at that)? Is it because she’s not the brightest star on the talk show circuit?
If the Democrats are successful in winning back their majority, who would be best for leading that party? Pelosi is a large jewel in the Democratic crown. Why throw away this woman’s institutional knowledge of how to get bills passed; how to do politics?
It is a mistake for any Democrat pledge to withdraw their support for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker, for two reasons: First, they play directly into the hands of the Republicans, who have never failed at getting into the heads of Democrats. Second, such a position puts any Democrat immediately on the defensive. The minute any new Democrat votes for a bill which Pelosi supports, they will be accused of being renegades.
Rather, these new Democratic candidates (and all of the incumbents) ought to be preaching a positive program in line with traditional Democratic values and advocacy for the common men and women of this nation; and led by an extremely able, former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.
Let’s stop all the chatter about getting rid of this jewel of a congresswoman. She has demonstrated she knows how to run that fractious body as well as anyone; and certainly, better than the last two Speakers.
###