Posted by
arandomguy on Thursday, November 16, 2006 11:52:49 PM
The United States House of Representatives made history today, as they elected their first ever woman speaker of the house. Nancy Pelosi, one of the Houses' most liberal members has been elected by a unanimous majority the leader of the House of Representatives when they meet on January 4th for the first time.
However, in her first act as SOTH-elect, Nancy Pelosi demostrated the remarkable nature of her leadership. After she recommended Jack Murtha, the outspoken anti-war congressman from Pennsylvania as majority leader, the man was easily defeated by a 25 year house veteran Steny Hoyer.
Though the democrats tried to play this down, it raises some interesting questions about the leadership of Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi is unable to get her recommendations accepted by her own friendly caucus. How is she going to be able to function when there is a house full of hostile politicians? The answer is, she won't, and there is a serious chance that nothing will get done.
This is a good thing for both the American people, and the Republican party, if only they can capitalize on it next election. Nancy Pelosi has promised to get a lot of things done in the first few days of her tenure. If there is a deadlock, nothing will get done, and the House will be a pool of failed legislation within days. Though she does have the votes, if she tries to push a bunch of liberal legislation through, some of the more moderate and conservative democrats - feeling increasingly alienated by the woman's liberal antics - may jump sides on an issue or two, and vote with the Republicans.
Deadlock is good for the American people because it keeps the government out of our lives. As conservatives, this is the basis of what we stand for - the principle that less government is good government, and that only on issues of national defense should the government be big. In the private sector, there is almost no reason for government intervention - and this includes raising the minimum wage as Nancy Pelosi wants to do - and in other areas, there is also little reason for government intervention.
Deadlock is good for the Republicans, because they will be able to point this out in '08. The Republicans will be able to run on a platform that says "Here's what the democrats promised," and list a bunch of things. "And here is what they delivered," and have an empty list. Because this is what deadlock will amount to, and this is what will happen if Nancy Pelosi proves unable to hold together her strained caucus.
This is quite an amusing story actually, because Nancy Pelosi has the rug pulled from under her during her first days as SOTH-elect. What is the house going to be like for the next two years? My guess? Chaos.