The Morning Call (Sunday)

Pelosi’s impact will not be forgotten

House speaker was respected across the political spectrum

- By Calvin Woodward and Nancy Benac

WASHINGTON — There are two searing scenes of Nancy Pelosi confrontin­g the violent extremism that spilled into the open late in her storied political career. In one, she’s uncharacte­ristically shaken in a TV interview as she recounts the brutal attack on her husband.

In the other, the House speaker rips open a package of beef jerky with her teeth during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrecti­on at the U.S. Capitol, while on the phone with Mike Pence, instructin­g the Republican vice president how to stay safe from the mob that came for them both. “Don’t let anybody know where you are,” she said.

That Pelosi, composed and in command at a time of chaos, tart but proper at every turn, is the one whom lawmakers have obeyed, tangled with, respected and feared for two decades.

She is the most powerful woman in American politics and one of the most consequent­ial legislativ­e leaders. Now, at 82, in the face of political loss and personal trauma, she is closing her era.

Pelosi announced Thursday she would not seek a Democratic leadership position in the Congress that convenes in January, when Republican­s take control. Pelosi will remain in Congress.

“Never would I have thought that I would go from homemaker to House speaker,” she allowed.

Polarizing and combative, Pelosi neverthele­ss forged compromise­s with Republican­s on historic legislatio­n, on health care, roads, student debt relief, climate change and more.

Even former Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, a self-described “partisan conservati­ve who thinks that most of her positions are insane,” said Pelosi had a “remarkable” run.

“Totally dominant,” Gingrich said of her. “She’s clearly one of the strongest speakers in history.”

Pelosi dealt with conservati­ve Blue Dog Democrats, the liberal women of the Squad, the Out of Iraq Caucus — not to mention old-guard legislator­s who treated their committees like fiefdoms.

Many of the above, at one point or another, earned her look of icy disapprova­l, well practiced and not always reserved just for the other side.

“Politics is tough,” she said in 2015, “but intraparty? Oh, brother.”

Pelosi prevailed — for nearly 20 years as House Democratic leader including nearly eight as speaker

in two stints — with hardnosed sentiments like these:

“Whoever votes against the speaker will pay a price.” — to Democrats who resisted her push for a select committee on climate change early in her speakershi­p.

“Nobody’s walking out of here saying anything, if they want to keep an intact neck.” — to negotiator­s trying to work out a 2007 HouseSenat­e compromise to restrain pork, according to the notes of John Lawrence, her then-chief of staff and author of a new insider book on her speakershi­p, “Arc of Power.”

Sometimes, she could snap her lawmakers into line without a word. A flick of her hand silenced Democrats who cheered when the House first passed articles of impeachmen­t against then-President Donald Trump, for Pelosi was a stickler for decorum.

But not always.

She ripped her copy of Trump’s 2020 State of the Union speech, on the dais behind him, on camera. That raised questions about whether Pelosi, in that moment, had become what she despised in Trump.

Afterward, she said she had extended her “hand of friendship” to him when he arrived, but he did not take it. “He looked a little sedated,” she added. As she read quickly through her copy of the speech while Trump delivered it, she stewed over the lines and decided to take action.

“He has shredded the truth in his speech, shredded the Constituti­on in his conduct — I shredded the address,” she said crisply. “Thank you all very much.”

In 2007, Republican President George W. Bush opened his speech as the “first president to begin his State of the Union with these words: Madam Speaker.” He grinned, she beamed, an ovation followed.

Although she maintained a genial relationsh­ip with the Bush family — especially the elder George Bush — Republican campaigns seized on her as the perfect foil early on and never let go. She was pilloried as “Darth Nancy” in the 2006 campaign and the villainiza­tion got much uglier, complete with gun imagery, as the years passed.

“She was, she is, the personific­ation of the San Francisco liberal,” Lawrence said.

But “there was a viciousnes­s. The fact that she fit that bill so perfectly — a smart, attractive, effective woman ... they knew they could caricature and stigmatize things about her, her appearance and style, in a way that was a very effective dog whistle of misogyny.”

She would never publicly attribute the attacks to the fact she’s a woman, Lawrence said. “She would say, ‘They did it because I’m effective.’ ” Then “pretend to flick dust” off her immaculate jacket.

“Darth Nancy” was a quaint, faraway insult by the time the pro-Trump mob came looking for her that Jan. 6. Their sign at the Capitol said “Pelosi is Satan.”

Rifling through her desk, they found a pair of boxing gloves. Pink ones.

Pelosi honed the art of aiming high, then disappoint­ing one faction of her party or another without losing core support. Rare is the major achievemen­t that was as far left as the party’s left wing wanted.

But many are the achievemen­ts. She settled for an “Obamacare” bill, for example, that did not give everyone the option of government health insurance, but did, over time, expand access to health care.

She crushed toes along the way.

“Her instincts are to find a path and if you happen to be standing in the hole, she’s going to treat you like a running back,” said political scientist Cal Jillson at Southern Methodist University. “If she can go through you, fine. If not, you’re headed to the medicine tent.”

Pelosi faced none of the questions about sharpness that dog Biden, who turns 80 on Sunday. She still races around Congress, in high heels, at a pace people half her age can find hard to match. But concern had grown in the ranks about the crowd of older Democratic leaders still in charge.

Leon Panetta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, said Pelosi “probably could have spent more time building a stronger bench in terms of leadership in the House and trying to make sure that others could follow in her path.”

Her fundraisin­g prowess was one key to success.

“This is why the Democrats had more money than God,” said Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan.

 ?? PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP 2019 ?? Nancy Pelosi announced she will not seek a Democratic leadership position in the new Congress.
PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP 2019 Nancy Pelosi announced she will not seek a Democratic leadership position in the new Congress.

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