Friday, November 19, 2010

Why Americans Don't Like Nancy Pelosi

Because she's a strong woman.

Nancy Pelosi is awesome. She was a fantastic Speaker. One of the best ever. To paraphrase Lyndon Johnson, Pelosi could engage in nut-cuttin' time as well as anyone in American history. And that's precisely the reason she's unpopular. If it was Norman Pelosi, the Speaker wouldn't have been an issue in the midterm elections, anymore than Harry Reid was.

Of course, there's the fact that the only voters who really hated Pelosi weren't going to vote Democratic anyway. But Pelosi was in the Beltway media narrative so everyone talks about her. I am glad she is going to be Minority Leader. For a few days, I was wondering if, despite her awesomeness, the Democrats should choose someone else just to move this narrative. Then I realized that a) it would probably be Steny Hoyer, which is unacceptable and b) that to do so would to reinforce the sexism that has brought her under attack to begin with.