I've been a little bit surprised this past week at the amount of support that Nancy Pelosi has been getting here at the Kos. Let me explain...
I understand, to some degree, why Nancy Pelosi has a large amount of support from this site. She has accomplished a lot during her four years as Speaker of the House. She has helped Congress run efficiently, and has done a great job in conveying Democratic ideals.
However, as much as I admire what Speaker Pelosi has managed to accomplish, I was a bit perplexed about how much support there was for her to retain her leadership position. In fact, some of the comments said that the Democratic representatives that voted against her were "cowards". I shake my head at those comments, trying to figure out why feeling that it may be time for a change in leadership is a bad thing.
The Democrats just took historic losses in the Senate, and have a smaller lead in the Senate. Why? Because the GOP did its typical smear job on Pelosi, linked her to everything bad in the world, and ran on the "Fire Pelosi" ticket. Lets not argue the merits of this, or how its not rooted in reality. We can only deal with this fact: it worked.
So, when 2012 rolls around, haven't the Democrats handed the GOP its favorite punching bag? If their concept of "Speaker Pelosi" worked so well for them last time, won't they just use the idea of her being back in the role as a way to sway independents to their side?
To suggest that new leadership may be needed is not cowardly. There is no harm in suggesting that there be a new minority leader and a new face to inherit the Speaker position after the 2012 elections. Politics can be a game of perception, and right now I'm wondering what perception the general public thinks of the Democrats in the House. We suffered huge electoral losses, yet continue with the same leadership? Is this just an anti-Heath Shuler campaign (which is understandable)? Why, after huge losses, is the party still looking to Pelosi to lead them, and do they (and the readership of the site) feel that she's the one to lead us back to the majority.
I come in peace, not looking to incite anyone. I just want to know why there's this level of support for Pelosi.