Voters Unafraid of `Speaker Pelosi’

Perhaps I’m missing something here, but should the Republican Party have been in such a tizzy about “saving” the country from Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi?

Nancy, after all, is a very attractive, polite (even former House majority leader Dick Armey says so), and politically-savvy 66-year old grandmother who for ten terms has represented a San Francisco Congressional district where they consider her a national treasure, though too conservative.

How could any change not be an improvement for this “do nothing” GOP-controlled Congress that entered the midterm elections with an embarrassing 13% approval rating?

Now in the death throes of lame-duckism, this is an institution that was on cruise control for rehab or Leavenworth.

This was the Congress that debated gay marriage and flag burning at a time when American families were losing their jobs, pensions and health benefits.

This was the Congress of Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney, one in jail and one packing to go there. This was the House where former majority leader Tom DeLay and four of this top aides were indicted for money-laundering.

This was the House where Pelosi’s predecessor was under attack by his own party for covering up a sex scandal.

Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri called the prospect of Pelosi becoming Speaker “just plain scary” and, horror or horrors, warned that with Nancy in charge Democrats just might establish a “Department of Peace.” Apparently, the very thought of peace breaking out would be enough to galvanize the GOP base.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist claimed Pelosi would “compromise 100% of our National Security.” Accustomed to such GOP taunts, Pelosi responds that a woman would be tougher on defense than her male colleagues. “Think of a lioness. You come anywhere near our cubs, you’re dead.”

At a time when a “culture of corruption” had engulfed the GOP-controlled Congress, their party leaders tried in vain to demonize the squeaky-clean Pelosi who has zero-tolerance for payoffs or shady deals regardless of party. Republicans were stunned at her quick action removing Rep. William Jefferson from the Ways and Means Committee for allegedly taking bribes.

To the political paranoid, her San Francisco base is enough to disqualify her from any office higher than school crossing guard. But San Francisco’s only crime is tolerance, and her East Coast upbringing is the stuff of novels, hailing from a strong family tradition of public service. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., is her role model and local legend , serving as Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years after five terms in Congress.

This election was an historic one, with a result long overdue: As Speaker, she will have reached the highest position of power ever achieved by a woman, third in line of Presidential succession. Whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or an Independent, if you yearn for a return to good, honest government and have a genuine concern for America’s future, what is there not to like about Nancy Pelosi?

FDR had his “first 100 days” that changed America, but everything moves at a faster pace today so Nancy Pelosi has her “first 100 hours”. On that lightning pace and with her swinging the gavel, Democrats will “drain the swamp of corruption,” roll back the subsidies to Big Oil, increase the minimum wage, adopt the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and broaden stem cell research.

Bill Buckley’s National Review has no doubt she will be true to her promise. In a recent cover story, the magazine horrified its conservative readers with this brief summary of “Madame Speaker’s” agenda: “The minimum wage would be increased. The re-importation of drugs at discounted prices would be allowed. The government would use its purchasing power to impose de facto price controls on the drug industry. Congress might enact some restrictions on wiretapping in the pursuit of terrorists.”

That may be scary to the GOP base, but election results showed it was a welcome change of direction for most Americans.

President Bush campaigned as “a uniter, not a divider” and proceeded to become the most polarizing American politician in modern times. Under Pelosi’s leadership in the House, Democrats have their most unified voting record in half a century. If she can bring fractious Democrats together, think what she can do for the country.