Warms the cockles of my heart!
It was a stark indication of just how far Obama has moved from the former House speaker who largely defined his first two years in office. Then, she was his rudder, and she kept his presidency on a reliably liberal course. Virtually every important piece of legislation -- the stimulus, the health-care bill, financial regulations -- was negotiated at the conference table in her second-floor office in the Capitol.
Yet only a few thousand folks voted for Nancy.
Now Obama is, in a sense, rudderless. He has no use for Pelosi, who, made radioactive by the A lesson well-taught in 2009.
Liberals howled
Some people are slow learners.
Pelosi loyalists say that, ideology aside, Obama simply isn't getting as much from negotiations as he should, because his bottom line is fuzzy. "The first rule of politics," one senior congressional aide said, "is to know where you want to get to before you start."
His goal is to keep the same home address as long as possible.
Democratic activists are disillusioned by what they perceive as Obama's quick capitulation to Republicans. As labor leaders met in Washington last week for private conferences, the criticism of Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid turned caustic.
I didn't see anything more about Reid - I certainly would've left that in!
"His decisions don't seem to be anchored to anything," one prominent Democratic operative complained to me. "Democrats desperately want to support him but aren't sure what they're supporting or why."
Shocking. Some people saw that in 2007.
On the eve of Obama's Wednesday speech outlining his budget goals, Pelosi used that opening to reassert her influence with the president. She called up White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and drew a line in the sand: Democrats couldn't tolerate capitulation by Obama to Republican demands for a restructuring of Medicare, which they hope to make the central campaign issue of 2012.
The Republicans will end Medicare as we know it!
"Let me be absolutely clear," Obama said Wednesday.
Once again, 'let me be clear' -- he also says that, which is how you know he isn't being clear.
"I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry." The partisan speech infuriated Republicans, set back negotiations in the Senate -- and delighted Democratic activists.
But the rudderless ship lost its' course again...
But the next morning, Obama was in the Oval Office with the chairmen of his bipartisan debt commission, whose recommendations have inflamed liberals. "Very frankly, it is the framework that they developed that helps to shape my thinking
Pelosi's piloting skills aren't what they used to be.
Somebody please do a poll about whether we're better or worse off for Nancy being sidelined.