"New" Democrat Congressional Leadership: Comedy of Errors

It looks like the House Democrats have settled their power dispute. the best part is it is the same line up that lead them to massive defeat on Election Day. Good for conservatives to have those folks still leading their party as a constant reminder to voters who is chomping at the bit to take over and how they abused power the last time they possesed it.

I note two key points.

First, Nancy Pelosi will take the role of Minority Leader. I can guarantee her victory is a repeat of her 2006 election to House Speaker when the California delegation voted lockstep out of home state loyalty. Otherwise, Steny Hoyer would have been Speaker. Hoyer is a an unabashed progressive, but he is also a seasoned politician with good instincts. He would have made a better Speaker. He would make a better Minority Leader now.

Pelosi did not lead Democrats to victory in 2006. The Republicans blew it. She is not charismatic. She is not a policy wonk. She is not a good pitchman for legislation (“We have to pass the healthcare bill so we can find what’s in it.” Compare that to Hoyer’s admission no one would support the bill if they knew what was in it.) She does not inspire loyalty. Considering she takes no blame for Tuesday’s losses, she lacks a certain grip on reality, as well. Bottom line--the House Democrats should have thrown Pelosi under the bus long ago, but they are stuck with her by their own ineptitude.

Speaking of ineptitude, we come to my second point. They are going to create a new position, with titlre a responsibilities to be named later, in order to shut James Clyburn up and appease the minority voters the party has been taking for granted decades now. It is such a blatantly patronizing move which reveals how white progressives really feel about blacks that it is bitterly funny.

If you are not from south Carolina, let me tell you a little about Clyburn. His entire political career has been manufactured for him in the name of affirmative action. After bombing out of law school, he was appointed as a minority advisor by Gov. John C. West, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Clyburn stayed in that do nothing role through governors from both parties for 21 years before the 6th Congressional District was gerrymandered to elect a black candidate in 1992. He won that seat. He has been there ever since. Now, his colleagues are creating a new “job” for him. The saddest part is that after nearly forty years, he has no clue how badly he has been strung along in his career.

I find it both pitiful and funny the Democrats not only see no need to change leadership in order to have fresh, new ideas, not only will reelect the same leadership who lead them to major losses, but will go out of their way in the name of misplaced loyalty and affirmative action to keep the same leadership in power. How strange.