Nancy Pelosi Loses First Test as Incoming Speaker of the House
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi just lost her first public test as the incoming Speaker of the House. She decided she needed to pay back Congressman John Murtha for his out-in-front positions against the Iraq war. So she nominated him for the #2 post in the House. Unfortunately for her, the Democrats were clearly willing to break rank. Instead, they voted Steny Hoyer of Maryland as the incoming majority leader.
The US News & World Report blog put it nicely, “Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory,”
Talk about stepping on your own story. There she was, the first female speaker of the House, voted in by acclamation, and what does Nancy Pelosi do? She ensures that the headlines are instead about her defeat–in backing a candidate for majority leader, Rep. John Murtha, who lost. And not only did he lose to Rep. Steny Hoyer–he was thumped, as the president might say. And that loss became her personal loss.
Pelosi has a tricky job ahead of her. Will she annoy her moderates and pull the party further to the left with antics like trying to impeach the President? Or will she realize she has a unique opportunity to show that the Democrats can still do good things for this country and instead work to rein in the out-of-control spending of the last few years and set a decent standard for behavior while in public office?
I can’t believe you didn’t refer to her as a San Francisco Liberal. The one touch that would have completed this post’s nosedive into cliche. So close, and yet so far.
Comment by Mike — November 18, 2006 @ 12:09 am