Today, Nancy Pelosi takes her place as one of the most outstanding Speakers in our country’s history. Her ascendancy to the Speakership for the second time shows her uncanny leadership skills and resilience in the face of significant challenges from the Republicans and some of her own House members.
For the last two years, Trump has labored to make her name a rallying cry of derision. Trump connected the name Pelosi to all of the base’s resentments toward the old guard establishment in Washington in general and the Obama Administration in particular. Her name became a tool for goading the crowds to boo and hiss and imagine Pelosi somehow as the mastermind of all their perceived grievances. Trump’s misogyny got sprinkled into this narrative against Pelosi as well. To think that another woman besides Hillary had reached the pinnacle of government power has been more than the Trump supporters could stomach.
In addition, Pelosi had to manage an uprising on her own side of the aisle. Discontent with her leadership had percolated among some of the Dem caucus members in recent years and came to a boil when the time came to elect a Speaker after the November Mid-Terms. A group of rogue House members actively tried to push for new leadership and some of the winning Dem newcomers joined their group. Pelosi handled the rebellion with mastery, using all of her tools and experience to quell the uprising.
Nancy Pelosi is a survivor and a master politician. It is difficult to overstate her impressive performance over the years. She crashed through that imposing glass ceiling as a standout political leader amidst a group of ambitious, ego-driven House members – the majority of whom have been men. Just imagine the number of egos and power plays she has had to manage and overcome over the years.
Hopefully, in her autobiography (a presumption on my part that she will write one), she will reveal all of her secrets, so they can be bottled and distributed to women seeking positions of power in Congress. But today, let’s give her a rousing cheer for making history. Women and men alike can celebrate her outstanding record of public service and contributions to our democracy.
Enjoy this excellent article in Politico giving Pelosi her due.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/nancy-pelosi-speaker-congress-profile-1077678
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Can we make lemonade out of political lemons? Writing daily since November 9th, 2016