She’s back! Or, at least she wants to be. Nancy Pelosi, that is. As the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Pelosi has become the face of the Democrat Party, at least in what has come to be known as the “People’s House.” Well, apparently the people don’t want her to be in control of their House any longer.
That was quite evident after Tuesday’s historic elections, which saw at least 61 new Republican Representatives added to Congress. In what was the largest pick-up of seats since the 1938 mid-term elections, the Republican gains in the House, along with the six gains in the Senate and the incredible gains among Governors and State Legislatures, this election was a game-changer.
However, from what some Democrat leaders are saying, including President Obama and Nancy Pelosi, you would think that this was merely a case of bad messaging. In an interview with 60 Minutes (preaching to the choir anyone?), Obama acknowledged his weakness of failing to “sell” voters on the importance of the Democrat’s agenda:
“I think that’s a fair argument. I think that, over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn’t just legislation. That it’s a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone,” Mr. Obama told 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft in an exclusive interview set to air Sunday.
The 60 Minutes interview, coupled with the President’s Wednesday press conference, reveals a leader who is tone-deaf to the majority of the American people. He and Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are singing from the same song sheet, but they think that Tuesday’s shellacking was really the result of Democrats not having been loud enough (i.e., more radical) or clear enough (i.e., more liberal) for the American people to understand what they are singing.
But, the problem for the Democrats still left in Congress is that most Americans, at least this past Tuesday (and last year in Virginia, New Jersey, and MASSACHUSETTS), heard Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress loud and clear. We just didn’t like the tune they were singing and we certainly did not like the style (heavy-handed) that they were using to force major changes on the American people in a hyper-partisan way.
From listening to Obama and other Democrats, the message being sent is that the American people — who were smart enough to comprehend the Great One’s message in 2008 — were apparently just not with it enough to comprehend the message this go around. If only the message would have been clearer, then the American people would have fallen all over themselves to thank Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for their wonderful governance these past two years.
Apart from the far-left wing of the Democrat party, there is no one who believes this. But, herein lies the Democrats problem. When you have an increasingly left-wing, ideological party led by the likes of Nancy Pelosi, you will be surrounded by yes men and yes women who tell you exactly what they think you want to hear. And, for any organization, political or otherwise, this spells disaster.
My dad, who served on the town council and as mayor of my hometown, Lake Placid, FL, always distrusted “yes men.” (for purposes of this post, “yes men” can refer to both men and women) Whether in politics or in the church (and sadly, there are many in the church and church organizations today), there are certain types who always agree with those in power and never say a word that could be construed as disagreeing with the opinions and beliefs of the leader. After all, if you did, you would most likely be out of a job.
Yes men are everywhere today, from the halls of Congress to the White House to the church house to religious organizations. The proliferation of yes men has also affected popular culture. To wit, American Idol.
I don’t watch American Idol anymore, but when I did, I would notice many people during the audition phase of the show who thought that they could sing. Some of these folks, for comic relief I’m sure, were allowed to sing on camera. But, what they did was most definitely not singing. A few of these parlayed their awfulness into 7 or 8 minutes of fame, but most of the abysmal singers were laughed at, not only by the judges, but by the viewers at home.
How did this happen? How could they have even gone to audition, much less get face time with the judges? Did these people not have family or friends who had heard them sing before? Did they not realize that their son or daughter or best friend simply could not carry a tune in a bucket? Were they so unwilling to risk rejection for speaking the truth that they simply said nothing? Or, when they did speak, did they simply lie and say what the obviously “talented” person wanted to hear?
Following Tuesday’s disastrous results in the House races, you would think that Nancy Pelosi would exit stage left. But, instead, she has announced her intentions to stand for election as the minority leader for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. You would also think that there are still a few Democrats left in the House who would tell Nancy that its time to step aside. Most of those Democrats got crushed in Tuesday’s elections, thus making the House even more left-wing and in the image of Pelosi than it was before.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think that having Nancy Pelosi as the face of the Democrat Party in the House, not to mention having Harry Reid as the face of the Democrats in the Senate, is the best thing that could happen for Republicans in the next two years.
You see, if President Obama is right (and I don’t think he is) and Tuesday’s election results were just about the Democrats’ messaging being unclear or muddied, don’t you think that it would make sense to not only clarify your message, but maybe also bring in someone who could better communicate that message to the American people?
If Democrats think that Nancy Pelosi is the best person to connect with the majority of Americans — including independents and Reagan Democrats — then by all means elect her as the minority leader. There is only one person who could get Nancy Pelosi to step aside, but he is the ultimate yes man who has surrounded himself with professional, life-long yes men. Maybe somebody needs to tell him that the country’s not digging the song that he’s singing either! Otherwise, he’ll be exiting stage left sooner than he might like. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
One thing that once was the feature of governance was the concept of compromise. Based on what I see, hear and read, the take on that concept now is that compromise is a basis for rejection and removal. Since there is no common ground any more, there is no basis for discussion, let alone compromise for the sake of getting useful legislation enacted.