We’ll see where this leads:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) moves since the November elections have shaken up some of her colleagues, with some looking over their shoulders and others worried about how the Speaker will lead her expanded majority in 2009.
Next year is regarded as the biggest legislative opportunity for Democrats since 1993, the last time they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress.
But not all Democrats are celebrating. Liberals are worried about Pelosi’s vow to govern “from the middle” and centrists are concerned that the make-up of the House leadership team has shifted noticeably to the left.
Contrary to the jubilation of House Democrats after they regained control of the lower chamber after the 2006 elections, there is some unease among members heading into the 111th Congress.
“Everybody I talk to, everybody’s worried about something,” said a Democratic staffer.
Pelosi’s effort to make some Democrats anxious could be a calculated maneuver as she seeks to maximize the effectiveness of her caucus heading into 2009. Pelosi’s hard-charging tone and decisions over the past month have sent a message to her colleagues: Don’t get too comfortable.
Indeed, don’t get comfortable. While Pelosi is without a doubt the worst Speaker of the past 50 years (and perhaps much longer), she is adept at the primary liberal game – gaining and retaining power. Pelosi, it should be remembered, essentially obtained her current position via illegal campaign contributions to Democratic House candidates who then owed her big time once the Democrats gained the majority…and who are now being primed to take over key House positions by Pelosi in a gambit to make the House a mere rubber stamp of the Speaker’s. Which is a doubly bad prospect given the fact that Pelosi is a cipher – a mere regurgitator of liberal/left platitudes who wouldn’t know an actual idea if it fell on her. Better for the country if she were a leftwing ideologue determined to push through a clear agenda – at least everyone would know what we’re up against and be able to work with that reality…now we don’t know when she’ll jump ship on a program or what scatterbrained ideas might pass in review on the whim of an ill-informed Speaker.
One of the brightest prospects for the GOP is our chances in the House – and even if we don’t end up scoring a majority in 2010, we can still do a great service to our nation by picking up 25 or 30 seats: that kind of loss might convince the Democrats to unseat Pelosi for the 2011 House session.
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