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Nancy Pelosi continues to exercise ultimate power over Democrats (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

When you’ve lost Nancy Pelosi, you might as well clear out your desk.

Amid all the chaos and whiplash in US politics over the past few weeks, one law remained constant: Pelosi is uniquely influential and has the power to make or break careers – even those of American presidents.

The former House speaker did more than anyone else to re-engineer the race for the White House, breathing new life into her Democratic party and sending Donald Trump’s Republicans into a tailspin.

Pelosi, 84, publicly encouraged 81-year-old Joe Biden to make a decision about his re-election campaign when he had already insisted he had no plans to step aside. Once he did drop out and endorse Kamala Harris, Pelosi scored another victory when former congressman Tim Walz was named as running mate.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

I actually have more respect for Pelosi after this.

She willingly stepped down in 2022. Her first reaction was to refuse to comment, and not exert pressure. She seemed to genuinely want either Joe Biden to come to the conclusion that he can't run on his own and/or Hakeem Jefferies to lead the charge to have him step down.

It was only after Jefferies proved himself pretty much useless that she inserted herself back into the primary role. She proceeded to prove that, despite everything ,she's incredibly capable in a way that no other democrat can match.

Regardless of how the election turns out, I think we can all agree that Biden was a massive liability for Democrats. While I have personal issues in regards to the Harris/Walz ticket, most Americans seem infinitely more amicable to it than Biden/Harris. None of that would have been possible without Pelosi.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

Word on the street is she and Obama confronted Joe and told him point blank he would be stepping aside from the nomination or Kamala would 25th Amendment him with their support. That was the stick. The carrot was they'll give him a giant fellatio tribute at the DNC and find some way to get funding for a library for his "legacy".

This does make one wonder though, why is he even still the acting president?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

oh yeah because the dems work so completely in lockstep. ultimate power to heard cats.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Pelosi is a fossilized old barnacle that need to be scraped from the hull. If you're old enough to remember when steam was the number one source of power, it's time to step aside and let some younger blood take the reins.

IMHO.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Ok, I'll bite.

Who? Name one person who can do what she does as well as she does it.

I'll wait. It's gonna be a while.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Who will replace her if she suddenly passes away because shes 84? She should be ensuring the party can function without her. She should be spinning up the next generation of leaders before it becomes critical. We shouldn't have to Weekend at Bernie's politicians in order to keep the government from collapsing.

It's the same with Biden.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Elanor Holmes Norton.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Wild take.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I get what you are saying, but I have bad news for you about steam power and coal, geothermal, solar thermal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

Rankine Cycle still undefeated

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That they've all gone the way of the dodo, and now the world runs on puppy power?!?!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But does she have REAL Ultimate Power? The power of the ninja?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

She only has one of the statues. She'll never open the portal.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ultimate power sounds kinda nefarious. Seems to me like she's doing a hell of a job, currently. I don't have any particular love or hate of her, but her job has got to be like herding cats, and she clearly does it will.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

Ultimate power sounds kinda nefarious

Deservedly so. She didn't get where she is by NOT currying favor with and doing the bidding of the ultra-rich and their corporations.

her job has got to be like herding cats, and she clearly does it will.

Nah, her job is to receive and carry out the wishes of the owner donors. That's why she originally supported Biden staying in: the wealthy patrons were still on his side. It was only when THEY started pulling their support that she used her power to oust him.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, Democract elites, they suck, blah blah.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They do. As do Republican, third party, and politically neutral elites.

In a system specifically designed to reward greed, ruthlessness, and authoritarian tendencies, you don't get to be one of the elites without being an awful person.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It does seem inevitable in the systems that we have built that you eventually sell out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Only if your greed and lust for power are stronger than your higher principles.

You can fight the system, even from the inside, without selling out, but they won't let you pull the levers behind the scenes unless you're much more rich and/or powerful than it's possible to become without selling out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

For an easy and obvious example, see Bernie Sanders. He's stood behind his principles from the day he was born and never sold out to anyone. He's a beloved figure across the whole country and a huge percentage of Americans supported his run for president.

He has next to zero power, outside of using his established position to shame other politicians. If you're immune to shame, he can do nothing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

If her job is to carry out someone else's wishes, then she doesn't really have "ultimate power". It's just like, penultimate power, best case.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

Dammit, that's actually a good point lol. She's mostly a vessel through which even richer, even more powerful, and even more corrupt people exert their will on the public.

She's damn effective and brutal about it, though, making her chief amongst corrupt middle managers.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

From a cynical perspective, you've described how all politics works in every system. Make peace with it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

No. Only the most corrupt politics, of which Pelosi is a chief proponent.

Corruption is unacceptable, especially on the scale of the likes of Pelosi and most if not all Republicans.

Politics are NOT as corrupt in every system and even if it was, that would be something to fight to change, not "make peace with" like a good little slave.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What are you going to do about it? Money and power dominate every system. Monarchy. Feudalism. Communism. Democracy. Even anarchy is rolled by the person with the biggest guns.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Even anarchy is rolled by the person with the biggest guns.

Anarcho-capitalism? Sure. Left anarchism? Nope, only according to the deliberately misleading establishment narrative 🙄

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There is no organization of people, from a marriage to a nation, that can't be unbalanced. Someone always has influence (wealth, power, knowledge) that can be used corruptly or violently to take from another.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yeah yeah, the world is unfair and we're all powerless to influence anyone so we should just give up now 🙄

Isn't it exhausting to go through life with such an utterly defeatist attitude?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

No. I just worry about the things I can change and not the things I can't.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago

Sounds dreadfully utilitarian and limiting.