I admire Nancy Pelosi. When we needed someone to find the votes and stiffen the resolve, she managed to \u201cget \u2018ur done.\u201d That\u2019s no mean feat. <\/p>\n
Yes, she helped the Dems accomplish a lot. But at what price? I just wished the pressure on her would come from the left. <\/p>\n
While she won a lot of battles, she lost ground in the larger war. (The irony here is, of course, that the GOP won the election because of its accusation that the Dems weren\u2019t focused enough on creating jobs; and now we\u2019re focused on the deficit?!)<\/p>\n
Yesterday\u2019s come-to-Jesus (in Dem parlance, that\u2019s \u201capproach the altar of vague spirituality, careful not to offend\u201d) caucus meeting was, as Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., dutifully called it\u2014I think they nominate someone each time they have a meeting like this to say this: \u201ccathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n"It’s what the Democratic Party’s about," he said. "There are ideological differences, there are regional differences, and it was a good thing for people to be able to talk through that." <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
But the Dems, as usual, can\u2019t even articulate what it is they don\u2019t like about her.<\/p>\n
\n[A] number of rank-and-file Democrats, including some left of center, are dismayed. They note that dozens of Republican House candidates ran campaigns linking their Democratic opponents to Pelosi, who was portrayed as a hardcore liberal hopelessly out of touch with middle American values. <\/p>\n
"She definitely hurts," said Rep. Gene Taylor<\/a>, D-Miss., who lost his re-election bid this month. Citing former Republican House leader Tom DeLay, Taylor said in an interview: "When he realized he was a drag on leadership, he went away. Somehow the Democratic leadership didn’t learn that lesson." <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
She \u201churts\u201d because the GOP said so. Of course, who among them defended her during their campaigns? At least, some Dems recognize the problem.<\/p>\n
\n"One thing the Republicans are very good at: They set goals, they set objectives and they set a way to get there," Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., told reporters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
And that\u2019s why Pelosi must go. What she did was get through a series of bills, but with apparently little thought to an overall strategy to leverage that success at the polls. Now you might argue that that\u2019s not her chief responsibility. Yes, much of this should come from Obama himself. But she, being much more experienced at the job of legislating and politicking than the president, should have recognized the vacuum at the top and filled it. And she may not be capable of that.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s face it (and I\u2019ll be accused of sexism here) even if she could develop a strategy, she would not be the one to give voice to it. Being the leader of her party in the House, she is the one called upon by reporters. She is not a good speaker, She halting. She\u2019s harsh. <\/p>\n
(Yes, she looks harsh, too. But Boehner suffers from his orange look, and I think Eric Cantor does, too. He looks like a cross between Buddy Holly and that dorky geography whiz in middle school whose voice always sounds like he\u2019s saying, \u201cI\u2019m smarter than everyone else.\u201d)<\/p>\n
But most importantly she can\u2019t be the spokesperson for progressive causes. She lacks humor. She doesn\u2019t handle herself well in interviews. In a word, she\u2019s just like the president. They both sound hesitant, as if they\u2019re trying very hard to make you believe what they\u2019re saying\u2026because they\u2019re not sure they do.<\/p>\n
The problem is, who on the Democratic side is? I open the floor for nominations because I can\u2019t think of an articulate progressive voice in Congress who could lead the party. <\/p>\n
Well, at least all was not lost for the Dems in their hour of angst.<\/p>\n
\nPelosi pronounced Tuesday’s long session "wonderful," then hurried past reporters. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I admire Nancy Pelosi. When we needed someone to find the votes and stiffen the resolve, she managed to \u201cget \u2018ur done.\u201d That\u2019s no mean feat. Yes, she helped the Dems accomplish a lot. But at what price? I just wished the pressure on her would come from the left. While she won a lot… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,52,53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}