As Democrats regain the House, a small group of 10+ Democrats want to replace the anticipated Speaker of The House, Nancy Pelosi. That may not be a good idea. Let's revisit her accomplishments.
For all the flack Nancy Pelosi gets as a legislator (mostly because the GOP holds her up as a boogeywoman specter of evil liberalism), she is arguably the best Speaker since Tip O’Neill. I mean look at the tape:
Had unified government for one session of Congress
Had a President who was barely a first-term Senator when he ran
Inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression
Had the fuckwit GOP caucus blocking her at every step.
Now let’s look at the accomplishments:
Passed the ACA. Every liberal President since Johnson had tried and failed to expand healthcare. Is it perfect? No. Is it better for the 20 million people who have health insurance? Yes.
Passed the bailout. I know I know banks are evil rawr, but the simple fact is that she inherited a giant moving ocean-liner of a machine and it had just clipped the iceberg. TARP and the related shit saved the global economy from utter utter economic ruin. Sure, I would have liked to jail more bankers. But we kind of gloss over how quickly and effectively Democrats saved the entire financial structure of the entire world from the bullshit that the GOP had created.
Saved the auto industry. Remember Chrysler and GM? You don’t have to because they still exist! Yep, the backbone of American manufacturing is still around thanks in large part to Democrats. And we managed to score some environmental wins (rolled back by Trump) while we were at it.
Dodd-Frank. Giant, sweeping financial reforms (also being rolled back) to try and mitigate the next catastrophe at the stock market. Again, could have gone further but it’s something.After Trump got elected, she locked her caucus the fuck down and forced the disastrous tax cuts and the disastrous attempts to repeal the ACA on party-line votes.
Now, let’s look at Paul Ryan’s time as speaker:
Added a trillion and a half dollars to the deficit to give corporations more free money
Did some CRA shit to overturn Obama-era rules.
Couldn’t pass a fucking farm bill because of his inability to control his caucus.
I’ll put Nancy’s record up against anyone who’s held the gavel since Gingrich (who was effective in the worst possible way). But in terms of positive influence, she’s a once-in-a-generation leader.
-Chris Baugh
Original publish date: June 6th, 2018