Pelosi needs to control ‘Squad’
Months before Nancy Pelosi first became speaker of the House, she reflected on the battles she had to fight to achieve her position at the head of the Democratic House caucus. She had risen as something of an outsider in what she saw as a boys club, and it wasn’t always a pleasant experience. But she developed a reputation for toughness. As she said, “Anybody who’s ever dealt with me knows not to mess with me.”
That was a dozen years ago. Today, in her dealings with the progressive collective dubbed “the Squad,” it is fair to ask where this pugnacious spirit has gone. Because Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota are definitely messing with her, as well as the Democratic Party. And Pelosi has yet to put them in their place.
Never have so few congressional newcomers been so influential. The four freshmen receive an unprecedented level of news media attention. Their comments are sought out on any number of major policy issues, far out of proportion to their experience, expertise or legislative record, which is basically nonexistent. And while most Americans probably have no idea who the House Democratic Whip is (it’s 26-year veteran James Clyburn of South Carolina), they have certainly heard of the Squad.
The Squad swept into Congress to promote a bold progressive agenda and make themselves President Donald Trump’s personal nightmare. But House newbies are not supposed to raise a ruckus. Their job, if they want to remain in what can be a lifetime perch, is to learn the folkways of the institution, build support networks with other members and the professional staff, and support the leadership agenda. The institutional ethos of Congress and American politics in general is one of dealmaking and compromise, not grand futile gestures.
Nancy Pelosi understood this from a young age. Her father, Thomas “Big Tommy” D’Alesandro Jr., served in Congress and later, as mayor of Baltimore in the 1950s, kept power through patronage, maintaining a “favor file” of people he had helped out, and from whom he expected loyalty. You don’t get in the favor file by being a constant source of embarrassment and disruption.
Pelosi has generally been dismissive of the Squad and their antics. She mocked the “Green New Deal” – a ridiculous initiative to ban the internal combustion engine and socialize the American economy – as “the green dream or whatever they call it.” After the Squad loudly opposed a bipartisan, compromise border bill that the House leadership promoted, according to The New York Times, Pelosi said that “all these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world” but they don’t have votes.
And in Pelosi’s practical world, votes are how things get done. But the Squad is seemingly not interested in legislating and projects an image of a Democratic Party defined by sullen, brooding anger with no realistic programs and no sense of reasonable national priorities.
Members of Congress are also supposed to represent the interests of their constituents, something the members of the Squad have been slow to appreciate. They seem more interested in bending the arc of history (or some such nonsense) than taking care of the dinner table needs of the voters. Omar and Tlaib’s grandstanding push for boycotting Israel, which Rep. Brad Sherman, DCalif., called “dead on arrival,” does nothing to improve the lives of the people in Minnesota and Michigan. Their upcoming trip to the Jewish state will only exacerbate tensions between Jewish-American voters and the Democratic Party.
And when Amazon abandoned plans to build a major headquarters in New York City, Ocasio-Cortez exulted at the power of “dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors” who “defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.” But this was really the work of strident progressive activists; “everyday New Yorkers” just saw 25,000 jobs and $27 billion in revenue vanish.
This could be why some members of the Squad are extremely unpopular. A CBS/YouGov poll found that OcasioCortez has a favorable rating of 23%, Omar 19%, Tlaib 18% and Pressley 17%. Democratic leaders also leaked a poll showing that the Squad is deeply unpopular in swing states, and that “socialism is toxic to these voters,” according to Axios. This was a shot across the bow, telling Squad members to shape up or face the consequences, either from Democratic primary challengers or in the general election.
But Pelosi has been remarkably inef
fective in disciplining Squad members. She allowed a rebuke of Omar for antiSemitic comments to be watered down. She has not stripped Squad members of important committee memberships, like Speaker John Boehner did back in 2012 when three freshmen Tea Party Republicans opposed him on a mere procedural measure.
And she has not forced a purge of troublesome staff members.
In the wake of the border bill vote, Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, tweeted that the moderates who supported the speaker were akin to 1940s segregationist Democrats and were voting to “put kids in concentration camps.” This sparked outrage in the caucus, and Chakrabarti deleted one of his offensive tweets. But how does someone that maladroit and confrontational still have a job? If Chakrabarti is still employed at the end of the week, it will be a signal that anything goes.
Pelosi’s meeting this week with Ocasio-Cortez is being treated by the news
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs to bring the gavel down on her meddlesome freshmen and demonstrate that messing with her still has consequences. Or else she will ride out her remaining years as a much weaker speaker.
media as though it is a summit, as if they were peers. The very fact that a meeting between the speaker and a new member is considered newsworthy speaks to the Squad’s power, and they are well aware of it.
Their perspective on the liberal Democratic old guard was summed up by Omar: “We never need to ask for permission or wait for an invitation to lead.” One can’t imagine powerful Democratic old pols like Tip O’Neill, John McCormack or Sam Rayburn putting up with that kind of nonsense.
Pelosi needs to bring the gavel down on her meddlesome freshmen and demonstrate that messing with her still has consequences. Or else she will ride out her remaining years as a much weaker speaker.