Despite the incessant imploring by some of the wiser Democrats for Nancy Pelosi to step aside as leader of the party, the majority of the House Democrats elected her to preside over the new Democratic minority in the 112th session of Congress, proving what Americans have declared in the midterm elections to be true — that the Democrats are far removed from the will of the American people.
Media outlets such as CBS News perceive the loss of the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 2 to be a rejection of the Obama/Pelosi agenda. Yet despite the results, Pelosi was elected to the position of House minority leader by 150 Democrats in a secret ballot.
Pelosi was challenged by Rep. Heath Schuler of North Carolina, who asserted that Pelosi was not the best person to serve as the face of the Democratic Party after the historic midterm election results. Schuler explained: “We’ve just come off the largest loss for the Democratic Party in almost a century. And to be able to put Speaker Pelosi as minority leader is truly unacceptable for our party.”
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As a member of the Blue Dog Democratic caucus, Schular’s sentiments mirrored those of his fellow Blue Dogs. Following the election results, the Blue Dog Democratic Caucus, which lost 24 of their 58 members in the midterm elections, declared that Pelosi should not pursue the position of House minority leader.
Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, co-chairman of the Blue Dogs, blamed Pelosi’s agenda for the Democrats’ historic losses, and concluded that the Democratic Party required major renovations, beginning with a change of mascot (Pelosi), if they wished to remain contenders for the 2012 elections. “When you have the largest turnover since 1948, then it’s time to shake things up,” he explained.
Defeated Democrats addressed a letter to Pelosi immediately following the midterm elections, asking her not to seek a leadership role in the party in the 112th Congress. An excerpt of the letter reads:
Many of us want the chance to run again and reclaim the seats that we lost on Tuesday. With you as the leader of House Democrats, the hangover of 2010 stands no chance of subsiding…. One mark of a strong leader is the ability to discern when it is time to pass the baton. As defeated members, whose party needs to rebuild, we are counting on you to show the strength of your leadership in this dark hour. We ask that you step aside as leader of our party in the House.
Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi, who lost his reelection bid, said that the Democrats would be “crazy” to reelect Pelosi. He even went as far as to assert that he would have won reelection had it not been for Pelosi. Democrat Rep. Allen Boyd of Florida made similar claims: “The truth is Nancy Pelosi’s season has passed, and she’s the face of the defeat two weeks ago at the polls.”
When Schuler elected to run against Pelosi for the position of House Minority Leader, he asserted that Pelosi’s “far left” agenda was so demonized by everyone involved that it would be impossible for the Democrats to put forth any real message to the American people.
Expecting his victory to be an uphill battle, he said: “If she doesn’t step aside then … I’m going to press forward. I can add and subtract pretty well. I don’t have the numbers to be able to win, but I think it’s a proven point for moderates and the Democratic Party that we have to be a big tent. We have to be all-inclusive. We have to invite everyone into the party.”
In the end, however, Schuler could not defeat the Democratic establishment, though he described the vote for House Minority Leader as tense. “There was a lot of unrest in the room for several hours,“ but ultimately, he was able to acquire only 43 votes in the secret ballot.
Following her election to House minority leader, Pelosi said, “It’s about jobs, about reducing the deficit, and about fighting for the middle class, so I look forward to doing that with this new leadership team.”
CBS News reports, “In a sign of Pelosi’s strength, Democrats voted 129-68 to proceed to a vote earlier in the day, over objections from those who sought a delay in order to have more time to mount a viable challenge to Pelosi.”
Pelosi contends that she is the best person to lead her party: “I’m the person who can attract the resources both intellectual and otherwise because I have done it before.”
According to CBS News, “Pelosi argued that she would remain in the leadership in part because she knows how to lead Democrats out of the political wilderness, having done so four years ago. She also argues that she is the most effective fundraiser for members of the caucus. She blames the party’s losses on the country’s lingering economic troubles and high unemployment rate, not her leadership.”
“The message we received from the American people is they want a job,” Pelosi claims.
Schuler asserts that he is frustrated over the Democrats “voting in bloc” for Pelosi after Americans at the polls clearly declared their desire for more bipartisan solutions.
Conservative writer Justin Quinn notes that Pelosi’s reelection is good news for the Republicans: “Pelosi’s term as House Speaker was marred with infighting, a hard shift to the radical left, and an unwillingness to seek compromise with the Republican minority under any circumstances.”
“Classic Pelosi,” according to Quinn, “extols the virtues of listening to the other side’s ideas [and then] dismisses those ideas in a kitschy sound-byte.” For these reasons, he adds, “House Democrats could do a lot better than Pelosi for the position of minority leader, but if they want to give Republicans the advantage heading into 2012, she’s the perfect choice.”
The Republicans chose the unopposed Rep. John Boehner as the leader and speaker of the House in the next Congress.
Boehner remarked,
This is the dawn of a new majority — one I believe will be humbler, wiser, and more focused than its predecessors on the priorities of the people.
The job of the next Speaker is to work to restore the institution — restore it to being the People’s House. It’s not about us; it’s about them. And what they want is a smaller, less costly, more accountable government. More jobs, less spending. It’s that simple.
It is also noteworthy that the Tea Party was virtually shut out of House leadership.
Photo of Nancy Pelosi: AP Images
