I've Been Waiting/For a Girl Like You/To Come Into My Life

When the Democratic House caucus convenes tomorrow to hold leadership elections, Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is expected to become the highest ranking elected woman in American history. This is actually a pretty big deal, because, as Dana Goldstein and Sarah Wildman point out in American Prospect, just the presence of such a powerful woman could help recruit more women into other areas where they have not been well represented, such as political journalism and especially punditry, and help turn out the female vote. Closer to home for me, women are a powerful force in blogs, but their muslces have yet to be flexed in political blogs.

What is even more interesting than Pelosi's coup for her gender is how short-lived it may turn out to be. Hillary Clinton is in clear position as the early frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, at least so say the experts. Here's one problem, though: people already know Hillary Clinton, and 45% say there is no chance they would vote her. A bigger problem may be her stance on the occupation of Iraq. She was profiled in this month's Atlantic, and towards the end (sorry - I think it's available to subscribers only) is a devastating description of the author's interview with her on the subject. The core problem, as demonstrated there and elsewhere, is that she lacks America's most prized commodity - authenticity. In the interview, she describes the big long list of evidence to support her contention that she was misled by Bush & Co. into supporting the war, and she describes her recently developed interest in accountability and winning. Maybe she could get away with that style of argument as a lawyer, but her evidence is dumb. Everyone can tell that Democrats like her sold out to W, who was pretty obviously out to grind the neo-con Iraq ax, because they were afraid to stand up to the Republican intimidation machine.

But getting back to Pelosi, who voted against the war, we might wonder how she will do as speaker. The netroots have clearly gained a lot of confidence in her abilities, judging by a methodologically dubious DailyKos poll in which she has increased her approval rating a modest 50 points since July. Since the election, however, she has done at least two notable things: one was heading off an intra-caucus squabble by brokering a deal to get Rahm Emanuel, who for some reason has gained respect from some people, into the leadership without fighting with Rep. Clyburn, an African American from South Carolina. So score one for some much-needed unity and minority caucus love.

The other thing she has done is endorse Jack Murtha for Majority Leader in his race against Steny Hoyer. This move seemed like a good idea to me at first, because Murtha got Democrats rolling on the pull-out-of-Iraq message last year, and I feel like he's more or less with the program; Hoyer seems like he's always been out for himself and not with the program. However, shortly thereafter the news cycle's narrative became "Murtha is too corrupt". Since what evidence there is on Murtha being corrupt dates back well over 20 years, one has to wonder why the press only jumped on this story once the Pelosi endorsement came out. For example, could a certain outgoing Minority Whip with a penchant for undermining the party be spreading rumors? We don't know.

I think Pelosi is an astute leader, and my opinion is backed up by the fact that anyone of any gender would have to be pretty sharp to get where she has gotten. Hopefully she will inspire more women to get involved, and hopefully none of them will be Hillary Clinton.