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Tuesday, 28 November 2006 14:21 |
 | | Roland Martin |
CHICAGO ÇƒÓ Nine days.
Thatës how long it took soon-to-be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to completely screw up the major momentum Democrats were riding following their big wins on Election Night.
By championing as her majority leader John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democratic congressman, over Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, only to have her party shove it right back in her face, Pelosi has been considerably weakened before she has even picked out the shades for her new office.
Not only that, it wasnët even close. For all of Pelosiës hardball tactics, Murtha only mustered 86 votes compared to the 149 cast for Hoyer by secret ballot.
You
would think that the first woman speaker of the House would have been
able to use her political skills to get a sense as to how her fellow
Democrats felt about Murtha, who has been lauded for his military
background, but not his views on new ethics rules for Congress.
The
tough-talking Pennsylvanian certainly struck an imposing figure
debating Republicans on television when it came to the war, but
Democrats quickly realized that being in the majority for first time in
12 years, they didnët need a lightning rod of criticism in the No. 2
position. Pelosi made his opposition to the war the main reason for
backing him, but thatës not the only issue facing the nation. When did
the economy, a rising deficit and a weakening education system not
matter?
Some Pelosi
supporters tried to spin her backing of Murtha as her exhibiting
loyalty to him, but what it boiled down to was a serious power grab
that will now undermine her leadership.
Donët think for
a second that Iëm smoking something: The fact that her own party chose
to ignore her wishes means that she canët keep threatening them with
taking committee assignments or other means of retribution. She
effectively reduced her position for the prominence it should have and
put a lot more power in the hands of Hoyer, who knows he can thumb his
nose at her when he feels like it.
The point of being two heartbeats
from the presidency is that you have the leadership skills to lead your
party. But not just that; by being the House speaker, she represents
the entire Congress with her actions.
I kind of had a feeling Democrats would try to mess things up for themselves, but not this fast!
Whether you hate
them or not, the one thing Republicans have always exhibited is the
ability to keep their troops in line. Former Congressman Tom DeLayës
nickname was "The Hammer," and he didnët get that just because he was a
former exterminator. He was quick to slap his colleagues around if they
got out of line, which was one way the GOP was able to muster the
proper number of votes to get their initiatives passed.
About eight
years ago, I interviewed Michigan Rep. John Conyers, and he made it
clear that even if Democrats did gain control of Congress, it would
still be difficult to get legislation passed because, in many ways,
they are too democratic.
By having
individuals represent so many different views, the Democrats could only
count on a solid core of 165 or so members to toe the party line. That
means they would have to negotiate with more than 40 members of their
own party before they would even have to deal with Republicans. Whereas
their counterparts nearly always had a core block of 200 to 205
members, so their unity made it easier to get bills passed.
Pelosiës
blunder clearly aggravates what was already going to be a difficult
job. Her biggest task is now trying to regain her grip on House
Democrats and distinguish herself as a credible leader after an
embarrassing defeat. If not, she will be rendered a figurehead before
she is even sworn in.
ï
Roland S. Martin, editor of The Chicago Defender newspaper, is author of "Speak, Brother! A Black Manës View of America."
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