2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPelosi Searches Caucus for Clues to Winning Syria Vote
By Heidi Przybyla and Phil Mattingly - Sep 6, 2013
Three times this week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent letters to her Democratic colleagues on the matter of Syria. Her mission: gathering political intelligence, not counting votes -- yet.
Its a deliberate, disciplined approach to a contentious vote that has become a hallmark of the San Francisco Democrats leadership style. Pelosi, 73, is assessing who can be persuaded and what might move them toward approving President Barack Obamas plan for a military strike in response to the use of chemical weapons near Damascus that killed 1,400 people, including 400 children.
Shes not going to ram this through, said New York Representative Steve Israel. The next several days will be about developing consensus and inviting recommendations to improve the language so that members can vote yes or no, said Israel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. On Sept. 3 alone, he called about 30 of his colleagues facing competitive re-elections or who hold strong antiwar stances.
Obama, at the end of a Group of 20 summit in Russia today, said Americans are worried about a slippery slope in Syria and hell make his case to the nation in a White House address Tuesday evening.
The deliberation over a resolution authorizing military strikes against President Bashar al-Assads Syria has thrust Pelosi into a familiar mission, to defy the odds and deliver a vital bloc of votes. As speaker in 2009, she managed in two years to pass the health-care law and a carbon-trading climate bill, both by votes of 219-212.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-06/pelosi-searches-caucus-for-clues-to-winning-syria-vote.html
Myrina
(12,296 posts)n/t
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)NO!
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)America does not want this, so why not take it off the table (since you are so good at doing that)?
andym
(5,441 posts)according to Thinkprogress, with 53 Democrats opposed. A majority opposes the strikes.