Speaker of the House, Quick to Catch Your Eye
Small note: the position of Minority Leader in the House of Representatives leadership was officially formed in 1899.
Larger note: I will never claim that Nancy Pelosi is owed the position of the Speaker of the House, and certainly anyone who wishes to challenge her for that position is welcome and encouraged to do so. However, I will say that whatever amounts to an opposition to her is just a letter signed by 16 representatives, 14 of them men. And this so-called opposition has yet to even put forward a candidate. So from where I sit, this is just a lot of grandstanding by Democrats who think they’re going to win points back in their districts, serving their political careers first, and the country last.
After her first run as Speaker, Nancy Pelosi lead the party through eight years as Minority Leader – a thankless job with almost no power, taking every hit from Republicans and Democrats, alike, just so she could keep the members united. And through four two-year terms of this, she was never challenged for that position. No one else had cared about doing the actual grunt work and yet here we are now, once the job comes with power and fame, and some Democrats are frothing at the mouth to take it away. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got when I got into local politics was, “don’t take the title if you’re not willing to do the work.” Love her or hate her, she’s done the work, and she knows the board.
If the Democrats want to seriously put forward a challenger and a reason why Nancy Pelosi should not be Speaker of the House, then we can have an actual serious conversation. But until then, this is just bad political posturing.
