The Nancy Pelosi Problem (the most effective congressional leader of modern times)

[workinclasszero]

The Nancy Pelosi Problem
The first female speaker of the House has become the most effec­tive congressional leader of modern times—and, not coinciden­tally, the most vilified.
PETER BEINART APRIL 2018 ISSUE

Last may, The Washington Post’s James Hohmann noted “an uncovered dynamic” that helped explain the GOP’s failure to repeal Obamacare. Three current Democratic House members had opposed the Affordable Care Act when it first passed. Twelve Democratic House members represent districts that Donald Trump won. Yet none voted for repeal. The “uncovered dynamic,” Hohmann suggested, was Nancy Pelosi’s skill at keeping her party in line.

She’s been keeping it in line for more than a decade. In 2005, George W. Bush launched his second presidential term with an aggressive push to partially privatize Social Security. For nine months, Republicans demanded that Democrats admit the retirement system was in crisis and offer their own program to change it. Pelosi refused. Democratic members of Congress hosted more than 1,000 town-hall meetings to rally opposition to privatization. That fall, Republicans backed down, and Bush’s second term never recovered.

In 2009, Pelosi persuaded deficit-wary Blue Dog Democrats to back Barack Obama’s stimulus package, and it passed without a single Republican vote. The following year, when Rahm Emanuel, then the White House chief of staff, suggested scaling back health-care reform after the Democrats’ surprise Senate loss in Massachusetts, Pelosi insisted that Obama maintain his goal of universal coverage.

These victories led Thomas Mann, who studies Congress at the Brookings Institution, to call Pelosi the “strongest and most effective speaker of modern times.” And even after being relegated to minority leader when Republicans took the House in 2010, she kept winning legislative fights.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/04/the-nancy-pelosi-problem/554048/

[EffieBlack]

1. EXCELLENT! Thanks for sharing it!

[workinclasszero]

3. Now we see the reason for the republican demonizing of Nancy Pelosi

Somebody please explain to me why democrats, many on this board in fact, want to get rid of her.

Does not compute.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Two groups are after Nancy other than the GOP

first are the naive, newly energized voters who listen to certain quasi leaders and as a result they go after powerful democrats, they are wrong and destructive but not malicious

second is the KGB, GOP, FSB, etc. They are active all over the internet including here, and their job is to sow doubt about powerful democrats

[workinclasszero]

8. I'm sure Russian trolls on the internet play a part

But that doesn't explain all the grief Nancy Pelosi gets on Democratic Underground.

Some people have been on dem attack mode ever since Lamb won in Pennsylvania, and it's sickening TBH.

[Eliot Rosewater]

10. It explains some of it, though. There are deeply embedded russian trolls, gop trolls

here and everywhere.

But you are right, there are also those who just cant get behind the D party. Someone told them the D party is almost as bad as the R party.

[Hortensis]

19. Yup to all. Some on the farther left are just wired

to oppose the most powerful liberal-dominated party in whatever nation and time they live. They are not able to accept the compromises and ability to moderate positions that makes growing a party possible and always misinterpret those strengths as weaknesses and corruption.

And like their counterparts on the farther right, they always overestimate their own numbers and support. A function of the righteousness thing both sides have going.

[calimary]

27. Indeed. Well said.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

25. troubling

Considerable Nancy-bashing going on in the comments in the following, right after Lamb won, just as you point out:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210356420

I don't understand it. The only reason TrumPutin and the GOPers attack Nancy Pelosi is because she's good. Why in the world would Democrats want to dance to Repugs' tunes? It's misguided.

When GOPers try to demonize one of our own, the proper counter is to educate voters with the facts.

[JoFerret]

69. Nancy Pelosi is amazing

Let her mentor some good folks (am sure she's already doing this) for succession maybe in 2020. Meanwhile GO KICK Republican and Berner ass. While also getting shit done.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. Nancy Pelosi is vilified by those on the right for the same reasons they vilified Hillary.

She is smart and experienced and she knows how to advance the Democratic platform. That makes her dangerous for those on the right.

[NastyRiffraff]

7. And she happens to be a woman

Notice Chuck Schumer isn't subjected to the same crap, especially not by certain people on this board.

[workinclasszero]

12. Funny how that works huh?

Not funny at all.

Just proves there is plenty of sexism to go around, right and left.

[calimary]

30. Yep.

[whathehell]

18. Good observation. n/t.

[zipplewrath]

28. Actually, he is

People regularly express frustration with him. However, right now we have congressional special elections and the GOP is using her as a punching bag, and so it drives conversation.

[dsc]

32. to be fair Reid was hated as well

but I do think sexism plays its very large part.

[marylandblue]

9. Also sexism

Bugs me to say so because I thought our society was moving past it, but it's clear to me now. It's that any Democratic leader wouldn't be a target anyway, but criticism sticks more to a woman.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. Sad to admit, but that goes without saying.

[JI7]

24. People say Hillary hate is about right wing attacks but i say it's really about hatred of women

In power. They hate the idea of women being equal in the workplace.

Because they don't" stay in their place".

[calimary]

34. Yep. I wish it werent true but it is.

Ever since 2009, I think we’ve been confronted with a very painful truth about this country. We aren’t nearly as “enlightened” and “evolved” and “over it” as we thought we were.

One of many reasons why I was so overjoyed about Barack Obama’s election was that I was so sure this meant we had turned a page. Closed an awful, shameful and embarrassing chapter in our history. We were officially post-racial. We were OVER that crap. This was the proof.

Yeah. Riiiiiiiight. There was nonstop persecution for him, as well as for Hillary after him. I’m convinced that “Make America Great Again” was code for “Make America White Again.”

And Hillary got no peace either. I have never EVER seen ANYBODY persecuted as she has been, and I’ll be 65 this year. I’ve NEVER seen the roiling hurricanes of hatred storming over any individual the way it happened to her. And it still makes no sense.

I think there’s just something much more deeply imbedded in this country’s consciousness that the head of the table is the permanent property of white men.

This is not the America of our highest ideals. I don’t even recognize it anymore. All I know is how it feels to be almost constantly embarrassed and disgusted by what I see.

And I keep wondering - WHEN do the bad guys finally get their comeuppance?

[meow2u3]

57. The right vilifies Pelosi because she's a powerful woman

Right wing boys in men's bodies cannot handle losing to a girl because they're not real men. Real men don't judge women.

[EffieBlack]

5. The piece has somany excellent observations, but this one really grabbed me

“A woman will one day make it to the White House. Nancy Pelosi may again become the speaker. But her experience offers an irony and a warning: For women politicians to succeed, they must defeat and outmaneuver men. Yet the better at it they are, the more detested they become.”

And, sadly, this reaction is to limited to Republicans. As we see right here on DU, many Democrats also fall victim to the sexist double-standard that Beinart describes.

[Eliot Rosewater]

13. Not limited to cons at all, you are right.

Misogyny, like racism, is built into you if you benefit from them at all.

Guess what percentage of the male population benefits from misogyny, guess what percentage of the white population benefits from institutional racism.

[ehrnst]

61. Yep - a catch 22. It's a mans world, and women need to

meet male expectations of women in power , which often contradict each other.

Like many men have of women in all walks of life.

[Greybnk48]

6. This is EXACTLY why they hate her!

Nancy Pelosi is one of the reasons I'm still a member of the Democratic Party after 57 years. She is awesome and just REALLY pisses the white Republicon men off no end! It's because she is smarter than they are and they know it!

[OnDoutside]

11. Who has been the House Democratic leader through the last 12 months of Dem wins ?

just saying ...

[BannonsLiver]

62. So she gets the credit?

[OnDoutside]

64. Wouldn't she have gotten the blame if they had lost all those elections ?

[BannonsLiver]

65. Not from me

I would have blamed the candidate’s performance and their campaigns or in some cases, the races being hard because of gerrymandering and other factors like voter apathy.

Conversely, I give the credit for wins to the candidates, their operations and the voters who took the time to get involved in the process. I don’t see where Pelosi is the decisive factor either way TBH.

That said, there is no doubt some of the most irrational of those among us would blame Nancy.

[OnDoutside]

66. Good for you, but there are many, even here, who blame her for everything, and never give her credit

It's interesting that the Republicans stopped the anti Pelosi ads in PA-18 eventually.

[Hortensis]

14. "strongest and most effective speaker of modern times.

And even after being relegated to minority leader when Republicans took the House in 2010, she kept winning legislative fights.

Thanks for posting, Working. I hadn't run across it yet. Btw, I often dump misleading headers like this in favor of my own title, although this one will no doubt pull in some doomed-to-disappointment hostiles and that's not bad.

[workinclasszero]

22. Its a great article huh?

I am tired of seeing Nancy Pelosi (and Hillary Clinton) being kicked around on DU.

Its uncalled for.

[Hortensis]

52. Yes, and patterns of hostility are becoming just

as striking as the single-hit hostile posts that cause trolls to be banned at once.

[Fresh_Start]

15. I really thought that Obamacare should have been known as PelosiCare

She put herself and her house members under great duress in order to get that legislation through.

She lost her position some of her members lost their jobs, Obama was reelected. So Pelosi risked the most.

[Me.]

16. Brilliant

This article spells out what many of us have been saying, especially in those threads that target her for being 'too old' but also mean but won't say, 'too female'.

Check this out: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210366619

[brer cat]

17. K&R

[betsuni]

20. K&R

[JI7]

23. Woman in Power is a Problem for some

When you vote for scum like trump and you are offended by Nancy Pelosi, your are a piece of shit.

[oasis]

26. ImWithNancy!

[mcar]

29. This!

Can we please stop demonizing her here now?

[dchill]

31. She is heroic.

I don't know why some Democrats don't get that.

[alwaysinasnit]

33. I agree that she has been very effective

However, and for all the good she has done, please let us remember that this is the same leader that took impeachment off the table with Bush and has leashed Rep. Green of Texas from continuing talk of impeaching Trump.

[ehrnst]

37. Here is what she said

Concerning Trump:

"No. I believe that, whatever we do, we have a responsibility, first and foremost, to unify the nation. Second of all, you can't go down any path without the facts and the law. If that's there, perhaps it will come out in these investigations," she
said

And Green wasn't so "leashed" that he was able to formally introduce articles of impeachment, despite everyone knowing that it wouldn't get any neccessary approval from GOP house members.

From Feb 27:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Monday at the National Press Club that Democrats are not ready to target President Trump on impeachment grounds but are actively listening to cases being made for Trump's impeachment.

"The case is being made about the emoluments, and you have to have evidence and the rest, but the case has not fully been made," Pelosi said.

On GWB:

Pelosi discussed why she did not pursue an impeachment trial for former President George W. Bush over the Iraq War, which prompted her to say that she has never "recovered" with liberals for not impeaching Bush.

"You don't impeach somebody because you don't like their policies. When they break the law, that's when you have grounds for impeachment," Pelosi said. "Perhaps misrepresenting the American people could be cause for impeachment. If so, there's plenty of grounds right now with the current president, but it just isn't the case."

[ehrnst]

35. That's why her peers keep choosing her. (nt)

[blue-wave]

36. Thanks for Posting

Bookmarking to defend this fighting democrat from the continued attacks. Good Info.!!

[Hekate]

38. Is this the same Pelosi that a certain clacque here wants to retire? The polarizing one? Too old...

...too establishment? Standing in the way of younger men with new ideas?

That Nancy Pelosi?

Christ on a trailer hitch.

[workinclasszero]

39. Yup, that's the one

Its all about ageism with a dash of sexism IMO.

Keep kicking republican ass Nancy, they are scared shitless of you!

[George II]

40. But....but....

SHE'S TOO OLD, and a WOMAN, and part of the ESTABLISHMENT!!!

[SpankMe]

41. If Nancy goes,

Repubs will just pick a new Democratic face to elevate to Satan status and unleash the hate and advertising - I suspect it would be Schumer, a liberal Jew.

It doesn't matter who Repubs are bashing in the Dem party. If we obediently remove that "bashee" from the crosshairs hoping to gain back a few right-leaning independents, Repubs will find a new one and will keep going.

It's hopeless. And bashing Nancy here on DU certainly doesn't help us any.

[bluescribbler]

42. More effective than Tip O;Neil?

I don't know about that.

[braddy]

43. Keep Pelosi.

[Gothmog]

44. K&R

[Mc Mike]

45. Absolutely right. rec, nt

[ffr]

46. Nancy's tweet regarding school walkouts

Link to tweet

[Cha]

48. Mahalo for Nancy's Tweets, ffr!

[Cha]

47. And, this is why repubs have been doing this for over a

decade..

Link to tweet

Mahalo for this on Nancy, working!

[ffr]

49. Damn straight, Cha!

[Cha]

50. Thank you, ffr!

[workinclasszero]

54. Glad you liked it Cha

If republicans hate and fear you, you must be doing something right huh?

[Cha]

55. Oh, Nancy is.. glad all these writers

are out defending her today!

[MyOwnPeace]

58. I'm with her, too........

but one of the keys in the Lamb victory was his own position stating that he was not a "Pelosi" boy and would not support her as speaker/leader.

He may now take a different position since he's "in" - but I can't argue that he was wrong to state that on his way to his victory.

[Cha]

59. Right.. I'm thinking Nancy

doesn't care, either.

I think he's only in for the special election and then there's another one in November.

Conor Lamb, Rick Saccone to run again in November in new and different congressional districts

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/conor-lamb-rick-saccone-run-november-congressional-districts/story?id=53782730

[Tom Rinaldo]

51. I agree completely. Enthisiastic K&R n/t

[TheSmarterDog]

53. K&R

[Gothmog]

56. Nancy Pelosi doesn't care if you hate her

I also like this article http://theweek.com/articles/761142/nancy-pelosi-doesnt-care-hate

Nancy Pelosi welcomes your hatred.

Okay, that may be an exaggeration. But when the Republican Party spends so much of its time talking about her, you'd think she'd be a bit more perturbed. And there's no sign she is.

She has good reason. We just saw yet another election in which Republicans tried everything they could do to tie the Democratic candidate to Pelosi, and he won anyway. Conor Lamb, the victor in that Pennsylvania special election, said at the campaign's outset that he wouldn't be voting for Pelosi for speaker in 2019 if he were elected, since he thought the time had come for a new generation to take control (Pelosi, who's 77, has been in Congress for over 30 years). That might not have made Pelosi feel good, but she's as hard-headed as they come, and if it helped win a seat for Democrats, she wasn't going to complain.

But we don't know whether it actually did help. Perhaps Lamb's stance defused the attack (though it certainly didn't stop Republicans from making it), or perhaps when people are voting for their member of Congress, they don't much care who the party's leader is.

That sounds like a radical thing to say, but the truth is that we have zero evidence that it actually changes any votes when every Republican candidate shouts "My opponent is just a puppet of San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi!" There's no question that Republican voters dislike her, but that's very different from her actually having an effect on the outcome of any race. But we've been seeing those ads for so long we just assume they must make a difference

[LBM20]

60. Effective when the party has been GUTTED all over the country? She's the PAST and we need NEW BLOOD!

[tammywammy]

63. lol

[Gothmog]

67. Here is why the GOP is attacking Pelosi

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[ehrnst]

68. This especially:

“As the management professors Ekaterina Netchaeva, Maryam Kouchaki, and Leah Sheppard noted in a 2015 paper, Americans generally believe “that leaders must necessarily possess attributes such as competitiveness, self-confidence, objectiveness, aggressiveness, and ambitiousness.” But “these leader attributes, though welcomed in a male, are inconsistent with prescriptive female stereotypes of warmth and communality.” In fact, “the mere indication that a female leader is successful in her position leads to increased ratings of her selfishness, deceitfulness, and coldness.”

Pelosi does not apologize for being "disliked" which makes men especially hate her. Men are used to women wanting their approval, and the lesser socially evolved lash out when they don't fall in line.