A House Speaker We Can Believe In: Nancy Pelosi's Goal is Our Goal

[flpoljunkie]

From a May 2 profile in the Washington Post. A good read.

Pelosi is fond of using lists to illustrate her beliefs: The "three pillars" of her agenda are education, energy and health care, and the "three Ms" of politics are message, money and mobilization. Her overarching goal is to reverse what she calls an "extraction of wealth" during the Bush administration from the middle class to the upper class. "This isn't a casual Democratic-Republican dispute. This is a different view of who has the leverage," she said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/02/AR2010050202769.html

[Clio the Leo]

1. An EXCELLENT read. NT

[Radical Activist]

2. I see an odd phenomenon.

When something passes the house, Pelosi gets all the credit rather than Obama.
When something is watered down and stalled in the Senate, Obama gets all of the blame.

[flpoljunkie]

4. President Obama tends to wait to weigh in on legislation when it is being debated in the Senate.

Take healthcare and financial reform, for two prime examples.

[Radical Activist]

7. He introduced and initiated action on both of those.

[flpoljunkie]

10. Obama has learned from healthcare and is far more active with financial reform.

Many believe Obama could have been far more forceful with healthcare reform-particularly in the Senate.

[Radical Activist]

13. Well, I know many complained aobut that

But considering his non-stop campaigning, the accusation is ridiculous. Of course the same people claim he sold out progressives in negotiations from the beginning so apparently he was involved.

[yurbud]

5. Pelosi must be a good self-promoter

[flpoljunkie]

11. I also see an odd phenomenon, as well. So many Pelosi bashers on DU.

This surprises me. Pelosi is a liberal, yet pragmatic Democrat, who gets things done.

[frazzled]

12. Well, it's also odd, because I remember ...

how reviled Pelosi was here for the several years she was Speaker during the Bush administration. She got the blame for everything, including not being able to put on her Wonder Woman suit and lasso in GWB and Dick Cheney. I mean, I really remember how denigrated she was for not creating miracle.

I guess it's now that there is a Democratic president, and there has been some good progress made in the House (and even Senate), we want more, and there is a new supposed miracle worker on whom to pin the blame for lack of achieving everything.

But that's life. As they say on Project Runway: "One day you're in, the next day you're out." (and then you're in again, it all depends).

[Radical Activist]

16. People do

always look for the most visible target. The only big grip I had with Pelosi, considering there was a Republican President, is how little was done to investigate Bush's crimes. People attack Obama for the same thing now, but Constitutionally, it's the proper role of Congress.

But now that I've thought about it, what I wrote about is just a small phenomenon on DU. I think some people never got over the primary.

[BlooInBloo]

14. (shrug) It's just how self-proclaimed "true progressives" are.

[yurbud]

3. if that is her goal, she needs to neuter or put down the blue dogs and DLCers in the House

And campaign for their primary challengers.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Pelosi gets votes where she can to pass legislation. Her majority is threatened in November and she

will work hard to try and prevent that. If it means supporting Blue Dogs who can get elected, so be it. Most Blue Dogs ended up voting for healthcare reform--certainly enough to get it passed.

Nancy Pelosi must live in the real world-the House she has and not the House she might prefer.

I trust her to get the job done.

[msongs]

8. the liberal Pelosi vs the conservative Obama - guess which loves bipartisanship? nt

[pocoloco]

9. She showed exactly how much she was worth during the * years!!

[flpoljunkie]

15. The minority has no power in the House. That's why we need to make sure Pelosi stays Speaker in Nov!

[freddie mertz]

17. I concur with her stated goal. nt.