Can anyone point out any substantive criticism of Pelosi?

[BeyondGeography]

23. This is about the House being a graveyard for talented young Democrats as much as anything else

Strict seniority rules make the House an unattractive place for younger Dems to work. Many of the best ones leave. Then we end up in a situation where leadership is a trio of soon-to-be octogenarians and people ask who can possibly replace Pelosi, WHO?!

It’s an absurd, unhealthy situation, and you can’t say Pelosi has done anything to change it.

Beto O’Rourke sums it up pretty well:

But Pelosi’s caucus also grew restive during its years in the minority. Younger members impatient to distinguish themselves in a body of 435 saw little hope of achieving committee chairmanships; Pelosi, unlike her Republican counterparts, maintained the tradition of allotting them based on seniority. She did this out of deference to the Congressional Black Caucus, according to several former staff members, because African-American members have historically not been granted high party standing except through longevity. But between the unavailability of chairman posts and a leadership pipeline clogged with 70-somethings — Pelosi; Hoyer, the minority whip; and James Clyburn, the assistant minority leader — younger House Democrats have been left to ponder other opportunities.

“You have some of the institutional members say, ‘Who are these upstarts?’ ” one of these younger Democrats, Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who was elected in 2012, told me in 2015. “One member of Congress compared us to spoiled kids, like teenagers who want a car on their 16th birthday. But you look at my class: Tulsi Gabbard, she’s not going to stay in the House for long — she’ll run for governor. Joe Kennedy, the same. Pat Murphy, the same. And they’re all talented, ambitious and good fund-raisers. I’ve just got to think that when you see that 20-year road to be in a position of consequence, other options look a lot more attractive.” O’Rourke, of course, left this year to pursue those other options, following his fellow erstwhile rising House stars Xavier Becerra (who was appointed attorney general of California in 2017) and Kyrsten Sinema (whom Arizona elected to the Senate this month).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/19/magazine/nancy-pelosi-house-democrats.html