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Madame Speaker

by: StraffordDem

Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 10:38:41 AM EDT
Opponents of health care reform have been using the derisive term ObamaCare to describe the reform debate in an effort to sink our president.  The president, to his credit, with his back to the wall (and with us behind him!)stood and went toe-to-toe for the past month, fighting for something that he believed in.  In hindsight, his instincts and political acumen appear to be brilliant.

But I want to talk about, quite possibly, the most progressive and strongest Speaker of the House we've ever had.  Madame Speaker held the House of Cards together after the Brown debacle, faced down Rahmbo, whipped members running for the hills, and nudged an already shifting young president toward this historic measure.  

A month or two ago, CSP took some heat for joking that women run this world...she was right, and it's about time someone said it.  Pelosi showed leadership on this issue that would have made most leaders crumble from the pressure.  I can't think of a single person who might have had the personal courage and political chops to pull this off.

She's not the run of the mill grandmother - she won't get a lot of credit for this in the history books, but this bill is hers as much as it is anyone else.  
StraffordDem :: Madame Speaker
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Madame Speaker | 9 comments
Yup (4.00 / 5)
I can't tell you how impressed I am in the way she turned this around. What a heroic effort.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    
my respect for her went up bushels (4.00 / 4)
She was practically giddy Sunday night in her final speech, and she earned the right.
Nancy Pelosi (4.00 / 4)
was a heroic figure in this fight. My sense of her went way up last night.  

Annie 2012!
The Impeach Crowd (4.00 / 1)
Hate her with a passion.

Both of them, now, so make that the impeach crowds.

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

[ Parent ]
Notably... (0.00 / 0)
The simple existence of the Impeach Crowd, with open calls for it on major newspapers, provides plain and simple evidence for anyone to see that Republicans have no interest in working with any Democrats on any issues whatsoever. Republicans will go to any length to convince themselves that Democratic rule is illegitimate, and they're getting far enough out there that the rest of the country is getting some much-needed perspective on how crazy they are. A 12% drop in approval ratings for Republicans among independents in the last few weeks says a lot about how far they're overreaching - and that with inflated numbers of ashamed-to-admit-they-used-to-be-Republicans in those 'independent' figures.

Only the left protects anyone's rights.
[ Parent ]
'We are not kicking this can down the road,'' (4.00 / 2)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponlin...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The landmark health care bill about to be signed into law is as large as it is due in no small part to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's stewardship. When Democrats in Congress and the White House were despondent and inclined to retreat on health care just two months ago, Pelosi stood firm against despair and downsizing.

As a result, she could emerge from the yearlong struggle among the most powerful speakers in history.

''It's safe to say that she's going to change some of the ways that we look at effective speakers, and maybe create a new definition of how to get things done under incredibly difficult circumstances,'' said Ray Smock, who was House historian for a dozen years under former speakers Tip O'Neill, Jim Wright and Tom Foley.
Those close to Pelosi say she considers health care reform a moral imperative that transcends political ambitions and election cycles. But she invoked those baser ambitions, too, as she coaxed and cajoled everyone from President Barack Obama  and his aides to her Democratic troops behind a bill to extend health coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.

''We are not kicking this can down the road,'' Pelosi told Obama by phone last month just before their seven-hour televised health care conference, according to Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York and three other officials who heard the call.



Annie 2012!
If historians are fair, (4.00 / 2)
she will emerge as the most important factor on successfully enacting health care reform.

birch, finch, beech
I don't think that they are done. (4.00 / 1)
I was riveted to Obama's talk to the caucus on Saturday (what a nerd, huh?).  In making introductions of Dem leaders, it seemed obvious to me that Obama placed Pelosi in a position of honor - it was pretty moving watching on a computer screen from a hotel room in Arizona.

Our president does not like to get too far out in front of issues - it's politics.  But whether by accident of history, or fate, or by some higher power that you might believe in, I am sensing that the Obama/Pelosi team might be just hitting their stride.  The president trusted and worked hard, and Madame Speaker delivered.  She was able to deliver because Carol and Paul are behind her, and Jeanne was doing her part in the Senate.  It's what we worked for.

It's good to enjoy this, but the iron is hot, and we are united and energized.

What's next?


[ Parent ]
livew link to signing NOW (0.00 / 0)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

Annie 2012!
Madame Speaker | 9 comments

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