Obama's Pelosi Problem
President Barack Obama’s efforts at a bipartisanship has been hampered somewhat by his “Pelosi problem.” The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is a tough, independently minded Democratic-Party leader who sees a major part of her job as that of keeping the GOP as the minority party. While Obama leans toward a bipartisan approach, Pelosi is not convinced that bipartisanship is the way to go. She sees the U.S. House of Representatives as an independent branch of government and under no circumstance will she allow herself to be seen as Obama’s gofer. She had made it clear that where the business of the House is concerned, even the President must go through her. This leaves Obama and Pelosi with a complicated relationship. They need each other politically and, according to reports, respect and like each other, but they tend to get on each other’s nerves. This relationship makes dealing with the Democrats in the House, sometimes even more difficult than dealing with Republicans.
Pelosi the stubborn, old-school, ideological Democrat believes that since Democrats won the election, Democrats should basically run the show in Congress. Some people in Pelosi’s office have expressed the view that Obama’s outreach to Republicans is naïve. House Democrats, not without reason, harbor a bit of resentment over the way GOP leaders treated them when Democrats were the minority.
So far, Obama’s popularity had given him the edge in their confrontations. The more of an ideologue Pelosi seems to be the more reasonable and centrist Obama appears. At the moment Obama reaps the benefits of that contrast, but this will not always be the case. As the Obama’s budget works through Congress, and the Obama agenda moves forward, the President will more and more need Pelosi’s help and good will. Obama knows that he will not always be as popular as he is today and he will need Pelosi’s support in the coming health-care and budget fights that lie just on the horizon.
The task of working with Pelosi falls largely to Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. A one-time Pelosi deputy, he has her respect and he has proven himself to be one of the few people in the House willing to stand up to the Speaker. No doubt, the relationship between the President and the Speaker will continue to be tense. Nevertheless, they both know that if the Democrat agenda is to move forward and if they wish to maintain Democratic Party leadership, they will have to learn play nice. My guess is they will learn to do just that.
This post summarizes some points made in an article from the March 9th issue of Newsweek Magazine. Most of the facts in the post were gleaned from that article.
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Pelosi needs to go. I suggest Afghanistan or Iran, on extended 'vacation' or else with Clinton. No doubt they'd work on each other's rough spots.
- Thomas Paine
I needed a smile today and this did it..lol Thank You, Bard....
Like stars across the sky … . E per avvincere ….. Tu dovrai vincere ...
We were born to shine …All of us here because we believe......
YW, Krol.
- Thomas Paine
Hello Bard and Krolchiha.. thanks for the comments.
I'm no Pelosi fan, but she's a tough old bird. She's worked her way up in the party and to a position of leadership for the nation (3rd in line for President) My guess is that it is not wise to underestimate her. Republicans or Democrats who do so do it at their peril.
We better advise Obama to double his Secret Service.
- Thomas Paine
Pelosi's a joke . . . Obama is quickly getting there. His popularity is waning, Bob - the honeymoon is over!
I have spoken!
Hello Irish... thanks for the comment.
Right, Irish, Obama's poll rating is really dropping like a rock :} It has plunged from 68% at the start of his term, to 67% now. My guess is that he is not really worried that his approval rating is plummeting, at least not right now. I know his rating when down to 59% a few days ago, but came back up following his speech to Congress and the nation. Even 59% is extremely high.
Of course, his approval rating is going to rise and fall with conditions. I do expect it will get a bit lower as his term goes on. It happens to every president. It should come as no surprise when it happens to Obama. He is changing America, Irish, (and in my opinion) for the better and doing that will create a tension and get some people upset.
He is changing America, Irish, (and in my opinion) for the better and doing that will create a tension and get some people upset.
You are living in a dream world, Bob. He SAYS he wants change but he hasn't changed shit! He's a politician with exceptional speaking ability - that's it - and you're falling for it hook, line & sinker!! Ironic considering your background, huh? Do you ever why about 90% of everyone on here disagrees with you on about everything, Bob?
I have spoken!
I think he is safe because NO ONE can bear the thought of Joe or Nancy being prez.
Don't ever underestimate what you can do for other people. Don't ever underestimate the power of kindness. D. Wayne Lukas
Hello Irish... Thanks for the comment.
You have an opinion and I have one. Mine is based on observation and a critical analysis. Here are a few facts you might consider.
You say Obama has not changed much yet. Your are right. Indeed, I did not write that he "had changed the world." I wrote that he was changing it. That, I respectfully submit, is a big difference. So, I wonder, just how quickly did you expect Obama to have changed the world. It is possible you could give him just a little more than a month in office?
But, let's see what he has done in that month. These are facts and I hope you agree not in dispute. He got passed a major budget bill quicker than any president has in recent history. He making a major effort to pull the economy out of a nose-dive that he inherited from the previous eight years. He starting to make a major shift in way we are conducting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's about to take on a major overhaul of our wasteful and bloated health-care delivery system and he signed into law a SCHIP bill that added million of needy children to our health care insurance program. He is taking new and aggressive diplomatic effort and changing the way we do our foreign policy. And he's only been in office a little over a month.
Now I understand that you may not agree with some of the changes (perhaps all of them), million of Americans don't, but you'd have to be completely blind not to see that things are changing. I think it is fair to say that Obama has accomplished more in his first month as president than any other president in our history. This, of course, is an opinion, but if you disagree feel free to name one that has doen more in his first 30 days. My background notwithstanding, I do have eyes to see and a mind to think. A majority of Americans voted for change, and change is what Obama is delivering.