Still My Way Or The Highway For Pelosi

Did I say something nice about Nancy Pelosi yesterday? Allow me to take it back. Yes, I said she was "mending fences" and "taking a placating tone."

Not so much. Pretty much the moment word came out of the Senate that a deal on the stimulus had been reached, and enough GOP Senators swayed to the side of passage, she's at it again. Note that I believe the dial was turned way up on the rancor over this bill by her refusal to allow regular House rules to come to order, and for this bill to receive the daylight and due process a trillion dollar appropriations bill should get.

So, Pelosi says, "I'll restore regular rules once this stimulus bill is passed." This should be read: once I get my way, I'll throw you a bone. So, the bill passes the House. No regular rules. The Senate indicates they have reach a passable agreement, and Pelosi is already threatening to ruin it by reinserting everything the opponents of the bill hate. President Obama has called for this legislation to be on his desk by Friday the 13th. I don't see regular order in the House any time soon. And Pelosi has already let her favorite attack dog, David Obey off the chain.

I honestly don't know what kind of game Pelosi thinks she is playing. She's not doing herself any favors with anyone at this point, except her personal amen chorus of Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Note that when Hoyer tried to advocate on behalf of Democratic House members asking for normal rules to be resumed, Pelosi quickly brought him to toe. The party line in the House is not the party line any more, it's the Pelosi line. Now that it appears the stimulus bill will be bounced back to the House for a joint conference session, the President has to protect his hard-fought-for bill from the meddling of his own party. All of this could have been avoided if Pelosi had allowed regular rules to resume in the House at the onset of the 111th Congress, which she gave a clear sign she had no intention of doing with her first edict. Pelosi and Obama have both jibed the GOP with comments about how "we won," and it looks more every day like rubbing salt in the wound is more important than actually getting anything done. Of course, the GOP isn't acting much better or more mature, but would you? If someone was constantly scoffing at your failures, telling you what a wreck you made of things and systematically destroying your ability to get anything done, and shutting you out of a process you have legal right and imperative to participate in? News flash, Nancy: we are still a two-party government. The GOP didn't get fired in November, and if you're not careful, you'll be lucky to be House Minority Leader by 2010.