The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
House speaker as U.S. emissary: Pelosi emerges as force abroad
WASHINGTON — 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, DCalif., 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, in style and substance, reinforcing longstanding U.S. 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 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, including the immigrant congresswoman who became the subject of a Trump rally chant, “Send her back!”
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that at a time when U.S. policy is “confusing everybody in the world,” Pelosi and the members of Congress are trying to “present the best face of America.”
“Thank goodness that they’re doing this,” Albright said.
With the lawmakers, Pelosi is sending a “very clear message” to the foreign officials in the room, said Rep. Norma Torres, DCalif., a Guatemalan American who joined the Central American trip.
“Presidents come and go. Congress will always be there,” Torres said.
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 prodemocracy protesters facing retaliation from China — “I hope nobody gets killed,” he told reporters — Pelosi affirmed the U.S. commitment to human rights and urged the Hong Kong government to end the standoff. It was a sentiment shared by several top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
But not since the late Republican Sen. John McCain, RAriz., globetrotted the world has a U.S. lawmaker emerged with such a presence, as a protector of longheld American values, as Pelosi.
“This is what diplomacy looks like,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, DMass., who traveled with Pelosi this month to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras as the migrant crisis at the U.S.Mexico border played out.