The Coming Democratic Disillusion

Rich Terrell

Smiling at Republicans

Control of the House isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  . . . "Actually, the victories of the 110th Congress were much more modest: a minimum-wage increase, lobbying reform, and a ban of incandescent light bulbs. Health care had to wait for a subsequent Congress and a Democratic president. So did withdrawal from Iraq — though retreat didn’t work out as planned, and America returned, in much smaller numbers, in 2014. The history of Nancy Pelosi’s tenure as speaker is a reminder of the limitations and tenuousness of political victories (and defeats).

"I suspect Pelosi is aware of this lesson. I doubt her caucus is. More than a quarter of them are freshmen, many are young, and two are self-avowed democratic socialists. They are inclined to believe history began

Taunting TEA Partiers

when Barack Obama entered Mile High Stadium in Denver. It’s an impression encouraged by cable news, which spent the run-up to Pelosi’s investiture celebrating the youth, diversity, and ambition of the House Democratic freshmen. And yet, for all the talk of Allison Spanberger and the “Badass Caucus,” of how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib “aren’t going to take no for an answer,” of grand plans for a Green New Deal and Medicare for All, there remains the inescapable reality of power. Democrats don’t really have it. Indeed, they have even less than the last time Pelosi became speaker." . . .

Child Yells Out ‘Boring!’ During 78-Year-Old Nancy Pelosi’s Acceptance Speech
. . . “ 'If the House wasn’t a joke before, it legit is a joke now,” one reader wrote. “What an embarrassment.' ” . . .