Go, Speaker Pelosi!
Pelosi's time
Marc Sandalow
Thursday, March 18, 2010
This is Nancy Pelosi's moment.
There is no way for the public to know what is going on behind closed doors at the Capitol this week, or whether enough votes will emerge to enact health care reform.
But if the House Speaker were Barry Bonds, this would be like a high fast ball over the plate. This is Pelosi's power zone.
Pelosi is not speaker because of her oratorical skills, liberal ideology, sweeping vision or even her magnificent district. She is speaker because of her mastery of the inside game.
To obtain the 216 House votes needed to pass a health care bill, Democrats must rein in liberals disappointed with its timidity, moderates worried about its costs, abortion foes concerned about public money, and freshmen who fear a "yes" vote will bring a swift end to their tenure.
There is a reason that Pelosi was not on the Sunday talk shows last week. She is consumed by hand-to-hand legislative combat; the kind that those who rail against the ways of Washington snarl at, even as they demand the results that make it necessary.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/EDME1CHDA4.DTL