Why Democrats need Nancy Pelosi for now

You don’t bring a novice to a Trump-era knife fight

Nancy Pelosi is running an obstacle course to her second turn as House speaker, and she’s making it look easy.

Only 32 Democrats voted against her nomination this year, far fewer than the 63 she lost in her 2016 race for reelection as minority leader. The opposition evaporated on the floor back then, and history will likely repeat itself when the 435-member House chooses its next speaker on Jan. 3.

The more immediate challenge comes today, when she and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer meet with President Donald Trump to discuss government spending. Will Pelosi emerge with his respect and a decent deal, or a Christmas shutdown and a nasty new nickname?

Yes, Pelosi is 78 and her lieutenants are 78 and 79. Yes, the Democrats need to change the guard. But not right now. Not with a loose cannon in the White House, voters craving oversight, centrist Democrats intent on bipartisanship, liberals pressing for a 21st century New Deal, and the fraught prospect of impeachment hanging over all of it.

You don’t bring a novice to a knife fight. You bring Pelosi.

I would not argue with her description of herself as a tough bargainer and “legislative virtuoso.” Last year, Pelosi and Schumer walked away from the White House with a budget deal that had Republicans fuming. In 2010, when Democrats lost their Senate supermajority and health reform was assumed dead, I was certain Pelosi would find a way to get it done. And she did.

The key to Pelosi is recognizing that her Baltimore political roots are more defining than her San Francisco district. She is a thick-skinned realist who said this year that Democratic candidates should pledge to vote against her if that’s what it took to get elected: “Just win, baby.” And they did, to the tune of 40 flipped seats and a House majority.

This is a complicated historical moment. For Democrats, that means dealing with an erratic Republican president implicated in crimes; a scorchedearth, zero-sum GOP Senate; and a po- tentially massive field of 2020 presidential hopefuls that could make 2016’s GOP crowd scene look manageable.

What Democrats need now is perfect pitch, or close to it. The House they will control in a month is a stage set, and everything that happens there amounts to a partywide audition — and platform — for the 2020 presidential, Senate and House elections.

It will be Pelosi’s job to make sure that any Green New Deal has appeal beyond progressives, and that the Democratic Party’s position on health care is not free Medicare for all but more like Medicare available for people to buy; to draw contrasts between the parties without giving “socialism!” ammunition to the Republicans.

That’s a balancing act, but not nearly as delicate as impeachment. It might be inevitable, but how fast and on what grounds? Rushing would not be wise and Pelosi knows it; she has been trying to keep a lid on that boiling pot. The smart move, already announced as the Democrats’ first order of business, is a “democracy” package to improve voting and strengthen ethics.

There is no question that Democrats need younger leaders, and it is increasingly apparent who they might be. Democrats will have plenty of choices when the time comes. For now, though, it’s reassuring that Pelosi has lived through an impeachment. She has lived through a difficult climate change vote that House members cast for nothing, because the bill died in the Senate. Presumably, she has learned from mistakes, her own and those of others.

Take it from two Republicans who once demonized her.

“Republicans don’t like Pelosi precisely because of her effectiveness,” tweeted Doug Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee.

“Why do you think we made HER the focus of the 2010 Campaign?” former RNC Chairman Michael Steele added. “It still amazes how much Democrats continue to underestimate” Pelosi.

Pelosi shouldn’t have anything left to prove, but apparently she does. So she’s listening, including, adapting, assuaging, managing, strategizing. I hope aspiring speakers are watching closely.

Jill Lawrence is the commentary editor of USA TODAY.