Note From Norm: Nancy Pelosi The Democratic Gift That Keeps On Giving
If Americans needed further evidence that GOP control of the United States House of Representatives should be a priority in the upcoming November mid-term elections, it came in the form of two words:
Nancy Pelosi.
There are plenty of political pundits predicting the demise of GOP control of Congress due to the historical challenges of mid-term elections impacting the President’s political party.
With seven months before Americans head to the polls Nancy Pelosi has reminded us, once again, of some of the reasons Americans booted Democrats out of the House in 2010.
And, in doing so, took the Speaker’s gavel from her hand.
Pelosi, along with Harry Reid and Barack Obama, did more to damage the U.S. economy and U.S. standing in the world than any trio of political leaders in modern history.
It was Pelosi, along with Reid, who carried President Obama’s water in shoving through the most disastrous overreach of federal government power in history with the brutish passing of ObamaCare without a single Republican vote.
It is Pelosi who represents nearly everything that Americans feel is wrong with its federal government.
And are completely out of touch with their reality.
When Pelosi calls a $1,000 bonus that many Americans are receiving from the recently enacted GOP tax cut bill nothing but “crumbs” it reflects the arrogance of a person worth over $100 million who cannot comprehend the real life that the vast majority of Americans lead every single day.
Since first being elected to Congress in 1987 there are few members of Congress more responsible for the massive growth and expansion of the power of the federal government than Nancy Pelosi.
In her 31 years in Congress, and nearly 17 years as a member of the Democrats leadership structure in the House, Pelosi has turned the House of Representatives into a more divided and partisan body than ever before.
She, along with her Democratic counterpart in the Senate, Harry Reid, deliberately and with enthusiasm, dismantled nearly every previous congressional leader’s commitment to finding bipartisan solutions to America’s greatest problems and challenges.
If ever there was a political leader who craved power for the sake of power, there would be few clearer examples than Nancy Pelosi.
Recently, Pelosi told the Boston Globe, “We will win. I will run for speaker. I feel confident about it. And my members do, too.”
She may be confident about her party’s chances, but she may want to reconsider how confident she is about whether her party wants her to lead it should Democrats gain control of the U.S. House.
Or, for that matter if they fail to regain control of the body.
Just a few hours after Democrat Conor Lamb won a Pennsylvania House seat he made it clear he would oppose Pelosi as the leader of the Democratic Caucus.
Dan McCready, a Democrat running in the 9th Congressional District of North Carolina said, “I’ve said since Day One that I wouldn’t vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker…I think we need a whole new generation of people in D.C. That’s part of why I’m running; we need some new blood.”
Kathy Manning, another Democrat candidate running in the same state for the state’s 13th Congressional District, proclaimed recently that she would like to see an open contest for the party leader.
Yes, it is true that Republicans face strong headwinds in holding onto control of the House.
This past weekend I attended the Milken Institute’s Global Conference where House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy made it clear that there are difficult realities that lie ahead for Republicans.
“We have our challenge – history says the party in power loses 29 seats in an off year and 23 seats is our majority…In January, I gave this presentation – it was plus 12 for the Democrats. Today, if you take a rolling average, just plus 5.5. We have a 4-point advantage – if we get 49 percent of the national vote, we’ll have 53 percent of the seats.”
He went on to remind attendees of the current political environment.
“You know, when I look at retirement, I look at retirements for the Republicans who retired in seats that Hillary Clinton carried and Democrats who retired in seats that Donald Trump carried – you know what that number is? Five to four,” he said. “We’ll pick up two seats in Minnesota.”
And, McCarthy concluded with this astute observation.
“The Senate has a much different map – I wish I had the Senate map, unfortunately for Chuck [Schumer] it doesn’t benefit him, but each cycle is different…They’re playing in a place that’s more beholden on the Trump states. I know what the odds say, but I’d much rather be sitting where we are than where they are. We’ll have a new leadership team; they’ll have the same.”
I remain confident that Republicans will maintain control of the U.S. House.
The passage of a historic tax cut and reform law, an economy that is on fire and an America that is regaining its prestige around the world, is a potent campaign message going into the November 2018 midterm election.
So, too is the stated desire of Nancy Pelosi to retake the power she lost when her party relinquished control of the House in 2010.
With these five words, “I will run for speaker”, Nancy Pelosi just reminded Americans why they gave Republicans the responsibility to lead American forward in the first place.