Nancy Pelosi — The Leader for Our Strange Times
Yesterday, they unveiled the official portrait of Nancy Pelosi, the outgoing Speaker of the House. The only woman to hold the position, she was hailed by a bipartisan group. including Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who called her (for good reason) "the most effective Speaker in U.S. history." I must say that my own views of Pelosi, my congressional representative, have shifted over the years. Yes, she's the commander of the anti-left Democratic establishment. Yes, she's an unabashed cheerleader for an aggressive foreign policy (read: U.S. empire). But Pelosi is also an ardent proponent of "San Francisco values," the most gutsy Democratic leader to take on Donald Trump, and a target of the lunatic right. (Her husband, Paul, had his skull cracked by one such lunatic, after Nancy was demonized for years by Republican adversaries.)
Nancy Pelosi's tireless, heroic leadership was on full display in the HBO documentary about her that premiered this week. Yes, the documentary was made by her daughter Alexandra Pelosi. Nonetheless, the insider footage showed why Nancy Pelosi was usually the only grown-up in the room during the time of Republican scoundrels like Trump, McConnell and McCarthy -- and feckless Democrats like Schumer. Pelosi clearly loves our constitutional principles -- and is willing to aggressively defend them.
Toward the end of the HBO documentary, Pelosi invokes an African proverb about a man who meets his Maker at the end of his life. "What wounds do you have?" asks the man's Creator. When the man says he has none, his Maker asks him, "Was there nothing in your life worth fighting for?"
Nancy Pelosi, who fought hard for national health care and against the "madman" Trump, clearly will have wounds to show. (So will her genial, supportive husband.)
This all resonated even more strongly for me because I happen to be reading a very revealing history about revolutionary upheaval in 1848 France called Writers and Revolution by the historian Jonathan Beecher. Beecher profiles authors and intellectuals who got caught up in the political whirlwind and later found themselves stranded when the tempest took a sharp turn right under Louis-Napoleon, who declared himself emperor.
George Sand was one of the writers who giddily allowed herself to be swept up by the romance of revolution, only to later turn against some of the same "imbecilic" radicals who led the revolution. While she never gave up on the spirit of democratic change, she came to believe that a moderate republican leader (as opposed to a monarchist) was the best that France could do in the foreseeable future, given the conservative nature of much of the peasantry and even the urban work force.
Nancy Pelosi was not my ideal leader. But she was the best that Washington was capable of producing during my lifetime (at least who escaped assassination). I'm proud to call her my congresswoman.
