Pelosi’s big victory shows she’s still got what it takes
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi had to stand all day and work all night to get it done, and when she finally wrung a concession out of House Speaker Paul Ryan on immigration, it was her party’s first victory in weeks.
Forcing Ryan to commit to a House debate on immigration, after her historic eight-hour floor speech Wednesday and her wrestling with unhappy Democrats on Thursday over a spending bill that promised nothing for “Dreamers,” showed that Pelosi still has the strength and passion to lead the D.C. wing of the party. And it muted critics who say the 77-year-old’s time has passed.
She’ll need every ounce of credibility she can muster in the next phase of the battle over Dreamers,
undocumented immigrants brought here as minors, because President Trump is dead-set on including his precious wall on the Mexican border as part of any deal to keep them from being deported.
Pelosi’s challenge will be to redefine the wall as being more about increased border security than an actual, physical barrier. Some piece of wall will have to be built, but it will be mainly symbolic.
And Trump, being the practical dude he can sometimes be, will not only accept it — he’ll brag about it.
It may be hard for some Democrats to swallow, but if they do, they and the Dreamers will come out ahead in the long run.
Mayor’s mark: Our new mayor is determined to make his mark on the city in the next four months, something he made clear to me at our breakfast the other day.
I told Mark Farrell, “You’d better be tough and brutal, because if you are seen as a nice guy, nobody will listen to you. They will just wait you out.”
I pitched him on the idea of turning Portsmouth Square Park and the nearby Empress of China building into a Chinese American museum in honor of the late Mayor Ed Lee, something everyone could go for.
Farrell is clearly pouring himself into the job. But at this stage of his life, it’s probably for the best that he’s not trying to win it for the next four years — not when he’s got three young children to help raise.
“At the Farrell household, the weekends are for the kids,” he said.
An excellent philosophy for being a great dad — but not so good if you want to be an effective mayor.
Snipe hunt: The San Francisco mayoral contest is off to a snippy start.
London Breed backers are targeting former state Sen. Mark Leno for supposedly benefiting from the “backroom deal” that bounced Breed out of the acting mayor’s job. Leno notes that Breed is being helped out by a super PAC and declares that “big money” needs to stay out of the race.
And both Leno and Angela Alioto want “acting mayor” — the title Breed held at the mayoral campaign filing deadline — to be struck from her ballot designation.
The real story behind all this is that there isn’t a cigarette paper’s worth of difference between the candidates on the major issues.
All are calling for more affordable housing. All are calling for compassionate but firm care for the homeless. All say auto break-ins have to stop and that traffic is terrible.
But none of them has a concrete answer for how they will do any of it.
It’s all about them — and none of it is about us. Movie time: “Hostiles.” Christian Bale does a great job in this Western, but the movie — and its four revolving plots — is a bit tough to follow. Still worth seeing. Right answer: Jerry and Anne Gust Brown were having dinner at the St. Regis the other night. So many people came up to say hello that his security team turned into the “selfie team” to handle all the photo requests.
A tieless Jerry was clearly relaxed and very accommodating.
At one point, a woman came up and asked the question that all politicians dread: “Do you remember me?”
The governor, paused and thought for a while, then slowly said, “I’m afraid not.”
She just chuckled, thanked him and walked away.
Later, I ran into her at the bar and asked, “Why did you ask Jerry if he knew you?”
She smiled and said, “I just wanted to see if he would tell the truth — and he did.”
It reminded me of the time years ago when then-Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh was approached by a woman who said, “I bet you don’t remember me.”
Unruh, who was not known for his tact, replied, “No, and I bet you win that bet often.”