Meet Nancy Pelosi: The US’s alternative ambassador abroad
There’s an American leader whose words resonate on the global stage. Who draws attention in foreign capitals. Who carries a message from the United States by simply arriving.
It’s not just President Donald Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, is emerging as an alternative ambassador abroad, an emissary for bedrock democratic values and the promise of stability that some see as diminishing in the Trump era.
As the president heads to the Group of Seven summit in France next week with his “America First” agenda, Pelosi has been quietly engaging the world from another point of view. She is reviving a more traditional American approach to foreign policy, reinforcing longstanding US alliances and commitments to democracy and human rights, at a time when the old order appears to be slipping away.
“What’s really important for people to know is, we’re all in this together,” Pelosi told The Associated
Not since the late Republican Senator John McCain globe-trotted the world has a US lawmaker emerged with such a presence, as a protector of long-held American values, as Pelosi.
Press in an interview. “This isn’t about me. It’s about our country and our shared values, to show our strength of who we are and what we believe.”
Since retaking the speaker’s gavel this year, Pelosi has led large congressional delegations abroad: to assure European allies at a Munich security conference; warn Britons of the pitfalls of Brexit; assess the migrant crisis in Central America; and mark the 400th anniversary of
the slave trade in Africa with members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at a time when US policy was “confusing everybody in the world,” Pelosi and Congress members were trying to “present the best face of America”. “Thank goodness they’re doing this.”
The scope of Pelosi’s diplomacy often resonates with members of the president’s party, creating rare bipartisan accord.
This past week, when Trump said he hopes it works out with Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters facing retaliation from China — “I hope nobody gets killed” — Pelosi affirmed the US commitment to human rights and urged the Hong Kong government to end the standoff. It was a sentiment shared by several top Republicans.
Congressional leaders routinely play a role influencing policy abroad.
But not since the late Republican Senator John McCain globe-trotted the world has a US lawmaker emerged with such a presence, as a protector of long-held American values, as Pelosi.
“This is what diplomacy looks like,” said Democrat Jim McGovern, who travelled with Pelosi this month to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras as the migrant crisis at the USMexico border played out.
At the Munich security conference this year, Pelosi was embraced by European leaders as Trump’s attacks on Nato threatened the alliance.
“She was greeted like a rock star,” said Wendy Sherman, an Obama-era ambassador and former State Department counsellor under Albright.
Mark Salter, a longtime aide to McCain, said while the Republican senator and Democratic speaker disagreed on “a million things,” “She’s a statesman and McCain would applaud it. He would look at the speaker, those activities, with appreciation.”