And so, after weeks spent telling us that she’d rather be in the Democrats’ position than the GOP’s, that the campaign was going great until those darned outside groups started spending money, and, late yesterday afternoon, that her party would keep control of the House, Madam Speaker finally greets reality. If you’re looking for a dramatic resignation announcement here, don’t bother: She’s not saying anything about that yet. Rather, this is her version of today’s Obama press conference — just facing the music, as lovingly conducted by Diane Sawyer, and giving her detractors the primal satisfaction of seeing her forced to cope with disappointment. A requiem from Politico:
“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” Pelosi famously told POLITICO during an interview in July 2008, revealing an almost messianic belief in her own mission. “And when you win the election, you win the majority, and what is the power of the speaker? To set the agenda, the power of recognition, and I am not giving the gavel away to anyone.”…
“I think it’s going to take us a while to get beyond this,” said a House Democrat close to Pelosi. “10 years, maybe 20 years. I don’t know if we’ll get back the majority while I’m here.”…
[W]hile a consummate politician, Pelosi disastrously misread the mood of the country following enactment of the health care package eight months ago. The California Democrat called it “one more step forward in our drive to realize the promise of ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.”…
Pelosi’s iconic moment as speaker – and in her critics’ eyes an moment of incredible hubris – may have been her public stroll across the Capitol grounds toward the final health care vote, holding her gavel high as tea party activists protested and yelled.
That was indeed an iconic moment, so much so that I used it as a front-page thumbnail for last night’s 7 p.m. post on the thumpin’ unfolding in the House. And yet, I’ll never be convinced that Pelosi “misread” the mood of the country when they passed O-Care and she did her little gavel-themed end-zone dance on the way to the vote. Like I said earlier today, I think she knew they’d pay in November. She didn’t know how much they’d pay, but even if she had, would she have done things differently? Knowing that she was about to realize 60 years’ worth of progressive aspirations for universal health care? Again, you’ll never convince me. In fact, here’s the real requiem for her. From the Associated Press, February 28, 2010, just three weeks before the final vote on ObamaCare:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her colleagues to back a major overhaul of U.S. health care even if it threatens their political careers, a call to arms that underscores the issue’s massive role in this election year.
Lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public, Pelosi said in an interview being broadcast Sunday the ABC News program “This Week.” “We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress,” she said. “We’re here to do the job for the American people.”
She did her job. Unfortunately.
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