Nancy Pelosi has made it clear she does not intend to relinquish any of the power or status she currently has.
However, a good many of her Democrat colleagues seem to be making it equally clear they do not want her to have that power and status anymore.
Now that could be a problem.
From Alex Roarty’s article for McClatchy:
Nancy Pelosi might actually be in trouble.
In a survey of 20 Democratic House candidates, only one – a former Senate staffer from Orange County, California – would state support for the congresswoman staying on as leader of the House Democratic Caucus. Of the rest, 18 declined to say if Pelosi should keep her job, while one, a political newcomer from a culturally conservative Ohio district, said he would vote for someone other than Pelosi.
Their refusal is a remarkable development for an already embattled minority leader, even if other congressional leaders, like Republicans House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, are similarly unpopular in polls. More significant, however, are the implications that the candidates’ refusal carries for next year’s midterm elections.
Democrats are eager to win a majority buoyed by voters’ disapproval of President Donald Trump. But Pelosi’s own deep unpopularity has proven a major hindrance to Democrats in recent campaigns. After Democrats lost a special election in June, some party insiders blamed Pelosi directly.
“We are overdue for a new generation of leadership,” said Kenneth Harbaugh, a candidate in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, and the only candidate surveyed who was a hard no on voting for Pelosi as leader. “We have a remarkable opportunity in front of us, and it’s going to take new thinking and new leadership to capitalize on it.”
The article goes on to point out that Minority Leader Pelosi’s people are circling the wagons and assuring fellow Democrats she is going nowhere…
…which could mean that the party itself will go nowhere in 2018 – an absolute disaster for Democrats if it happens.
Pelosi is 78 and, over the past 8 years, has been part of the “leadership” which has taken Democrats from a 60%-40% majority in the house to a 44% – 56% minority.
By contrast, Republican Speaker Paul Ryan is 47 years old. He could be 10 years older and still be one of Ms. Pelosi’s children.
But the problem is not Nancy Pelosi’s chronological age. There are 78 year olds who are vibrant, dynamic and still growing.
The problem is that, politically, Nancy Pelosi is old, tired and predictable. She is a virtual guarantee to come out, flash that surgically-created rictus of a smile, and say exactly what you would expect a party apparatchik to read from a script.
I wonder how many voters react by thinking “oh, geez, her again?”
Democrats have a major opportunity to retake the house of representatives next year. With new, dynamic leadership, that chance can be enhanced. With tired, old, leadership that chance is diminished.
Let’s see whether they are smart enough to bring in the new, dynamic leadership. I’d put the odds at 50-50.
