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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNancy Pelosi Doesn't Care What You Think of Her. And She Isn't Going Anywhere
By MOLLY BALL 5:50 AM EDT
Nancy Pelosi stopped caring about what people think of her a long time ago, so she has no qualms about eating ice cream for breakfast with a stranger. Dark chocolate, two scoops, waffle cone. Its a freezing January morning in Baltimores Little Italy, where Pelosi grew up in the 1950s. You know whats good about ice cream in this weather? she says. It doesnt melt down your arm while youre eating it.
We are sitting in an Italian café on Albemarle Street, alone save for the staff and Pelosis security detail, to whom she has offered coffee. The Trump era has many Democrats in a panic, but Pelosi inhabits a more cheerful reality. She is convinced that America has hit bottom, has seen the error of its ways and is ready to put her back in charge.
The 78-year-old former House Speaker knows what her critics say about her: that shes too old, too toxic, too polarizing; that after three decades in Congress and 15 years leading her partys caucus, she has had her turn and needs to get out of the way. But theres a reason she sticks around. Had Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election, she says, wed have a woman at the head of the table. When that didnt happen, Pelosi realized that without her, there might not be a woman in the room at all.
Pelosi is one of the most consequential political figures of her generation. It was her creativity, stamina and willpower that drove the defining Democratic accomplishments of the past decade, from universal access to health coverage to saving the U.S. economy from collapse, from reforming Wall Street to allowing gay people to serve openly in the military. Her Republican successors ineptitude has thrown her skills into sharp relief. Its not a stretch to say Pelosi is one of very few legislators in Washington who actually know what theyre doing.
But few people talk about her in those terms. Instead, Pelosi is regarded as a political liability. Republicans see her as their biggest asset, and hope to motivate their voters in the midterm elections by putting her image in television ads. Meanwhile, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars she has raised for her party, nearly 60 Democratic House candidates have returned the favor by calling for new leadership. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs June 26 primary upset of one of Pelosis lieutenants, Representative Joe Crowley of New York, highlighted the restlessness of the partys grassroots, and Pelosis erstwhile allies in the Congressional Black Caucus have pushed Representative James Clyburn to challenge her. Even the New York Times editorialized that she should go.
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http://time.com/5388347/nancy-pelosi-democrats-feminism/
Demsrule86
(68,643 posts)mcar
(42,372 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,999 posts)Gothmog
(145,496 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)I look forward to her second speakership, hopefully