Nancy Pelosi's brutal reality check

[Denny Crane]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33670.html

Nancy Pelosi's brutal reality check

Asked this weekend to grade her performance as speaker, Nancy Pelosi gave herself an “A for effort.”

But Pelosi knows that the real test is still to come.

Pelosi is inarguably one of the strongest speakers in modern history — an authoritarian figure in an era of centralized power in the House. But the coming months are a make-or-break period for her, a brutal reality check of her ability to manage all aspects of her job — consensus-building, agenda-setting, vote-counting, fundraising and campaigning.

Now in her fourth year as speaker and eighth overall as the top Democrat in the House, Pelosi has never faced such a daunting set of challenges:

Health care: Pelosi and other top House Democrats say publicly that they have the votes to push through a comprehensive package, but privately, they know they don’t. Pelosi must balance the diverging interests of her own members while simultaneously satisfying Senate Democrats and working with President Barack Obama and his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former House colleague with whom she has an uneasy relationship.

The voters: The electoral winds that were at Pelosi’s back in the past two cycles thanks to having George W. Bush in the White House are blowing this year in Democrats’ faces. Prognosticators both inside and outside the party are laying odds on an outcome that seemed unthinkable just a few months ago: a GOP takeover of the House.

(more at the link)

 

[Denny Crane]

I saw Larry Sabato on C-SPAN over the weekend. He was saying the republicans gain 27 seats in the House (they need like 41 to take over), but that there's a computer model he's posted about on his site that shows the republicans gaining 37 seats. It could be very close to overturning over a 100 seat gain by democrats over the past two elections.

The article also mentions Charlie Cooke thinks the dems might lose control of the house, too. He's a widely respected political expert, non-partisan. Sabato seems to lean toward democrats, IMO.

Pelosi's reelection seems safe enough, but I think republicans can use her in their ads for effect. For example, show her promising to "pay as we go" in 2006 and then show the deficits the past 2 years. Or show her "culture of corruption" comments and then talk about Murtha and Rangel and other democrats who've proven to be corrupt, or the hundreds of $millions in bribes to get the health care bill to pass the house and senate. Heck, I think a good ad would be "this is the situation when the dems took over the house and senate and here's what it is now."

Sabato said that it's a long way until November elections and things could change for the democrats' benefit. He said that if unemployment fell to 8.0% they'd have something to run on. He said that was not looking very likely though. He also said that if there were another 9/11 type attack, Obama and democrats would benefit.

 

[MrJayremmie]

The democrats deserve to lose every seat they hold in both houses of congress. But the republicans certainly don't deserve to gain any seats. They have been worse.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

The democrats deserve to lose every seat they hold in both houses of congress. But the republicans certainly don't deserve to gain any seats. They have been worse.

Can we re-instate the Whig party?

Edit: Oh, looks like I'm a couple years late to that party (pun inteneded).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Whig_Party
http://www.modernwhig.org/page8/page8.html

 

[e_blazer]

I'd do an add showing Pelosi saying, "I'll take all your tax dollars and your little dog too."

 

[CelticKing]

Pelosi is a communist bitch. There I said it.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Can we re-instate the Whig party?

Excellent idea!