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Pelosi's new life: politics under the microscope
Marc Sandalow, Washington Bureau Chief
Sunday, November 19, 2006
(11-19) 04:00 PST Washington -- House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi received a rude reminder this past week that every move she makes will now be scrutinized, analyzed and ripped apart for meaning.
Her Democratic colleagues' rejection of her choice for majority leader made news around the globe, reinforcing the notion that what had been fodder for Capitol Hill newspapers when Democrats were in the minority, has become international news now that they are in the majority.
"She's learning exactly what Newt Gingrich learned 12 years ago,'' said Jack Pitney, a professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College outside Los Angeles and the author of several books on Congress. "Suddenly she's facing an entirely new level of scrutiny, and mistakes that would have gotten little public attention are suddenly magnified.''
Many explanations have been offered for Pelosi's awkward introduction as a speaker-to-be, from her single-minded devotion to personal alliances to her determination that ending the war in Iraq be the new majority's No. 1 priority. Some Pelosi supporters even suggest that she "won by losing,'' establishing her credentials as a loyalist willing to suffer defeat in order to stand by an ally.
Whatever the truest explanation, the nation learned much this week about the San Francisco woman who is to become the House's 52nd speaker on Jan. 3.
She is a risk-taker who places an enormous premium on personal loyalty and trust. She is a woman with a long memory who does not easily forget those who have crossed her. And she is motivated less by the ideological labels that have defined her national image -- in this case Pelosi backed the more conservative candidate -- than by tactical calculations of internal House politics.
Pelosi has displayed a gift for the inside game of congressional politics -- caucus building, legislative maneuvering, vote counting -- since she first walked onto the House floor as a member 19 years ago.
But those skills seemed to fail her last week when her Democratic colleagues rebuffed her effort to have Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania named majority leader by a convincing 149-86 vote in favor of Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, who has been Pelosi's top deputy since she became party leader in 2002.
As Pelosi moves forward, last week's setback will be scrutinized for what clues it holds about her leadership and priorities, even as it left many members of her own caucus at a loss to explain what had previously appeared to be a near flawless post-election game plan.
"I can't speak of what's going through the minds of Mr. Murtha or Ms. Pelosi,'' said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, voicing the sentiments of many Democrats struggling to understand why the party engaged in a divisive fight just one week after its midterm election triumph.
But some of the qualities Pelosi exhibited last week have been long apparent to those who know her best.
Her desire to surround herself with loyal allies was evident when she resisted pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus in 2002 to name Rep. William Jefferson of New Orleans to head the party's House re-election committee, choosing instead her longtime friend Rep. Bob Matsui of Sacramento. When Matsui died of a rare stem cell disease last year, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois became chairman of the committee.
Her Pelosi's willingness to place pragmatism above ideology has been clear in her campaign and fundraising priorities. And she has promoted many conservative Democrats -- Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, Rep. Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena to name a few -- to prominent roles and committee assignments helping ease concerns that her liberalism would guide her decisions.
Yet Pelosi has never before been on the losing side of such a lopsided power play.
Her election in 2001 as whip and 2002 as Democratic leader followed smoothly run campaigns that displayed a masterful knowledge of her Democratic colleagues. Those performances gave even more pause to some members last week as Pelosi backed Murtha over the heavily favored Hoyer who, according to some Pelosi allies, harbors his own ambitions and has not displayed sufficient loyalty to Pelosi.
Even those who reject the charge of disloyalty against Hoyer -- he has expressed strong support for Pelosi in the news media -- said that after winning such a decisive victory as majority leader he now is free to operate even more independently.
The pace will slow inside the Capitol for the next two weeks, as members observe a two-week Thanksgiving recess before returning to prepare for the formal transition of power that occurs when the new Congress is sworn in Jan. 3.
But Pelosi will quickly face dozens of high-profile decisions, from making committee assignments and choosing committee chairs, to deciding which investigations should go forward and what legislation is debated on the floor.
Among the early decisions likely to stir more controversy is whom to name as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, a sensitive and high-profile assignment on a committee that Pelosi served on for 10 years, and which has enormous implications at a time of war.
The ranking Democrat is Rep. Jane Harman of Venice (Los Angeles County), who has a rocky relationship with Pelosi. House sources say Pelosi, annoyed at Harman for her initial support for the war in Iraq and further annoyed by her lobbying efforts for the post, is unlikely to get it.
But Pelosi's options are not enviable. The next senior Democrat is Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, who was impeached and removed from his job as a federal judge in 1989 before his election to Congress. If Pelosi decides to pass over an impeached judge for the sensitive post, she will probably draw criticism from the Black Congressional Caucus -- of which Hastings is a member -- who believe Pelosi has overlooked their members in the past.
It is part of a nearly impossible task of balancing competing priorities that Pelosi handled with aplomb during four years as minority leader, but must now be carried out on a much bigger stage.
"Welcome to the NFL,'' Pitney said. "It's a whole new level of competition. You're going to take a lot of hits and you're going to sustain a lot of pain.''
Republicans quickly seized on last week's divisions to assert that Democratic control of Congress is fragile.
Asked on MSNBC how Republicans would reclaim the majority, Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois said, "I think we just got it handed back to us. I think Pelosi's in the self-destruct mode and has been in that mode all week.''
Some Democrats privately conceded that the animosity created by leadership fights can take a long time to heal. But most said the public would soon forget, and the party would move on.
"Yes, she made a mistake,'' Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., told Bloomberg Television on Friday. "But I wish I could eat more and not gain weight. Sometimes you have to learn to live with things. The fact is that this will have no lasting negative effect. People thought that a very able person made one mistake.''
Waters said the in-house fight would not make Democrats "lose the opportunity afforded to us by the people of this country last week.''
Added Thompson: "We'll move on by doing what the American people want us to do. This is more a monster of the media than a reality within our caucus.''
Yet the media monster will now be looking to the Democratic side for nourishment.
The very first question after Pelosi was named Thursday as the party's choice as speaker came from Major Garrett of Fox News Channel, who asked Pelosi why 60 percent of the House Democrats had "defied your call to vote for John Murtha. In retrospect, what does that say about the wisdom of that endorsement and your clout within the Democratic caucus?''
Pelosi said, "I stand very, very proudly behind my endorsement of Mr. Murtha.''
"No regrets?'' Garrett persisted?
"No. I'm not a person who has regrets,'' Pelosi said.
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