“’Solemn,’ ‘sad’ and ‘serious’” is how a November 1st Washington Post video describes Nancy Pelosi’s attitude towards her Congress’s presidential impeachment inquiry. The nation’s first female Speaker of the House is right to stress the weight and import of the constitutional and civic undertaking that lies before us all, representatives and citizens alike. If Pelosi takes any pleasure in the possibility of issuing of articles of impeachment to the President, she is either politically savvy enough or naturally wise and temperate enough—or both—to not let it show, and to leave the levity to comedians like Stephen Colbert, on whose show she appeared last Thursday, October 31st.
Her Late Show audience, in contrast, was practically overflowing with enthusiasm at the thought of impeachment. Not only that, the audience reacted to Pelosi herself, a figure who has recently and at times bitterly divided Democratic option, with unquestionable warmth.
This show of support for the Speaker left me feeling hopeful, in that it seemed to perhaps signal a new willingness for those on the Left—or at least one studio set’s-worth of the Left— to stand united.
More thoughts to follow on this topic next week, and also more videos, but for now I’m on vacation and needing rest, so I’ll just leave you all with the aforesaid WaPo compilation.
May we all have the both the serious-mindedness and the levity to face the continuing inquiry, and the coming storm.