Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a hitch in her giddy-up: No one is listening to her say “I told you so,” about why Kamala Harris couldn’t break that glass ceiling of first woman – not to mention of color – to ascend to the White House. The 84-year-old political powerhouse has continually pointed her well-manicured index finger at Joe Biden, three years her junior. It’s really all his fault. So much so, Madam Speaker Emerita is heading out on a press tour to inform Americans that she had nothing to do with Donald Trump’s impressive win over her party’s selection.
“Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” she told The New York Times. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary.”
The question many congressional Democrats are asking is why Pelosi is taking the lead of the Democratic Party at all. Biden is still president; Harris is still vice president, and Hakeem Jeffries (NY) is House Minority Leader. The egotistically self-styled “Speaker Emerita” has no official power outside of her California district, yet somehow, she acts as the Godmother in a rather disrespectful Godfather way. If anyone should take the reins and ease the party into a Trump presidency, it is Jeffries – a smart cookie with his best years ahead. But the Godmother won’t let that happen.
Ego Overrides Clarity
“I decided a while ago that Donald Trump will never set foot in the White House again as president of the United States or in any other capacity” was Pelosi’s excuse for the extremely public and humiliating coup against Biden. “We just have to win the election,” she said. Biden and Pelosi have served faithfully on the same team for decades. Pelosi covered for Biden as he struggled with cognitive and physical problems, claiming he was “sharp as a tack.” Yet, she became the Brutus to Biden’s Caesar.
Is the Pelosi ego so fragile she needs to overshadow her fellow congressional members? The short answer: What else could it be but yes? Several House Democrats have spoken under an anonymity shadow for fear of what? Pelosi backlash? She has no power. Is it respect or pity, or are they hoping she just goes away?
“I understand that this is a difficult transition for her, not being the leader, but she is not,” a member of the Congressional Black Caucus told Axios. The member added, “She needs to understand what her new role is.”
“She needs to take a seat,” said a senior Democratic lawmaker. “Making scattershot comments is not just unhelpful, it’s damaging.”
These tactics are typical of the Democratic style and should be noted because they have been the source of the party’s longstanding power: circle the wagons and make the best of the weakest links.
Then there’s this guy, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). Once he regained his voice, he clearly had a devil-may-care political attitude, not always hunkering down in the wagon circle.
“She embraced this ‘She’s the Godmother, she’s the enforcer,’ and now she’s blaming Biden,” he told Politico last week. “Well, you can’t have it both ways. You got what you wanted, and now you’re still blaming Biden. I think it’s really ironic that you have a woman at age 84, and she is still hanging on. Why not give a younger generation an opportunity to occupy that seat?”
Most Americans can tell Pelosi has no real influence left to peddle. She’s lost the respect of the mean girls who host The View. Ana Navarro became a bit heated, near spitting, “She wants to make sure people know it wasn’t her, [that] she has no blame in this … It’s really unseemly.” But then she called her “nasty,” and that has not happened to a Democratic elected official on the show – possibly ever.
Hakeem: Just Ghost Pelosi
As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus said, “Hakeem has been tremendously graceful and respectful of her, but I don’t think she is being respectful of him.”
The official leader of the Democratic Party is Jeffries – and maybe he is too polite to shove the old guard aside. “Speaker Emerita Pelosi has been incredibly respectful of the entire leadership team,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It’s an honor to stand on the shoulders of the first woman speaker in Congress.”
Yet it does seem that perhaps another coup is in the works, as Pelosi trots about deflecting her role in Harris’ epic loss to the man she reviled more than anyone in her chosen government career field. All signs point to a bubbling cauldron plot, forcing Nancy to step back and stop trying to preserve a legacy that should have retired long ago.
Pelosi, the Empress Emerita, no longer has clothes.
