Nancy Pelosi - up close and personal
Betsy's Page
Time Magazine has a profile of Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats' hope to be Speaker of the House. I don't know if it was Time's purpose, but they certainly revealed the ugly political calculations that have been motivating the Democratic Party. They are all about winning back control of the House not because they have a vision of how they want to govern the country, but because they want to be in power. That is understandable; the minority in the House has very little power unless they can link up with enough people in the majority to block something from happening. Otherwise, they're reduced to sputtering about what the majority is doing. Ask the Republicans; they certainly were in the minority long enough to know what a toothless position it can be.
So, how has Pelosi determined to regain control is just to block everything they possibly can. She doesn't care one whit about governing or working to improve bills they disagree with; just block everything and then criticize the Republicans for not accomplishing much.
<<< When Bush announced his Social Security plan last year, Pelosi told House Democrats they could never beat him in a straight-ahead, policy-against-policy debate because he had the megaphone of the presidency and was just coming off re-election. So the Democrats would thunderously attack Bush and argue there was no Social Security crisis and therefore no need for them to put out their own proposal. Some members were leery, concerned that Pelosi would make the Democrats look like the Party of No. As the spring of 2005 wore on, some pestered her every week, asking when they were going to release a rival plan. "Never. Is never good enough for you?" Pelosi defiantly said to one member. When Florida Democrat Robert Wexler publicly suggested raising Social Security taxes as the solution, Pelosi immediately chewed him out over the phone. Only one other Democrat signed on to his plan.
The Democrats won the Social Security battle Pelosi's way. That earned her credit with her colleagues, who have embraced her overall strategy. Throughout the past year, Pelosi has demanded that Democrats unanimously oppose g.o.p. bills. By denying the g.o.p votes from across the aisle, Democrats have forced moderate Republicans to back bills like those cutting Medicaid and other social programs that fiscally conservative Republicans have insisted on, votes for which Democrats have then attacked moderate Republicans in television ads. Pelosi has also ordered Democrats not to work on bills or even hold press conferences with Republicans whom the party is trying to defeat in November >>>
That may be smart politics, but it certainly doesn't give people much to vote for. As Tom Elia at The New Editor says, "What an incredibly irresponsible position to take on a serious problem."
In fact, the GOP could run ads just using the material from this Time story. They could list problems facing this country and then quote from the story about how she ordered Democrats not to work with Republicans. Then, in a voice filled with sorrow, the narrator can say: is that the attitude we need from our elected leaders with all the problems from terrorism to a looming entitlement crisis that our country is facing?
And that isn't even getting to the desire of Pelosi and some of the leading Democrats in the House to spend their moment in power attacking Bush. The American people turned on the GOP when they did that to Clinton and, I suspect, the great majority of people don't want to see that sort of approach to governing by partisan subpoena again.
<<< Even her supporters acknowledge she's not the ideal spokeswoman for the Democrats in public. When she's not making clumsy remarks, like bragging earlier this year that one of the biggest benefits of a Democratic takeover of Congress would be "subpoena power," she's mind-numbingly repeating whatever talking points the party has agreed on that week or indulging her love of alliteration: "People, politics, policy" and "Money, message, mobilization." The charitable view of her often disjointed speaking style is that she's someone who thinks faster than she talks. The uncharitable view is that "she's Teresa Heinz without the accent," as one Democratic activist said. >>>
The article says that the Democrats aren't depending on Pelosi to be their poster girl in the election - well, it's up to the Republicans to make sure that the American people do indeed see what the true Pelosi is like and what they'd be getting with a Democratic House.
The Republican House hasn't been sweetness and light. Conservatives can find a lot to criticize them for - but we vote for the least bad alternative, not for some Platonic ideal that doesn't exist. And Pelosi is definitely not the least bad alternative.
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