Pelosi and Emanuel: Follow the Leader?

Entitled “Pelosi Hails Democrats' Diverse War Stances,” Dan Balz has an entertaining WaPo article describing Pelosi’s new Democratic position on exit strategies for Iraq. The gist of the piece: there is no position.

This fits with her leadership strategy: there is no strategy.

Across the board, Pelosi has been wrongfooted and wrongheaded on major policy positions. But after Murtha turned tail in November, her bolt to the vanguard of cut-and-run Dems was followed by immediate repudiation by Steny Hoyer, the Minority Whip and her number two [and a much more highly respected politico than the Minority Leader].

As he writes, Balz seems to warm to the task of making Pelosi look silly. After Hoyer and all other Democratic leaders in the House declined to follow Commander-in-Chief Pelosi, Balz says:

Pelosi said Democrats will produce an issue agenda for the 2006 elections but it will not include a position on Iraq. There is consensus within the party that President Bush has mismanaged the war and that a new course is needed, but House Democrats should be free to take individual positions, she sad.

A consensus, but no position. Except of course the mantra of diversity. Whew! And there’s more:

She said her support for Murtha was not intended to forge a Democratic position on the war, adding that she blocked an effort by some of her colleagues to put the Democrats on record backing Murtha.

Her comments ruling out a caucus position appeared to put Pelosi at odds with some other party officials. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean recently said Democrats were beginning to coalesce around a strategy that would pull out all troops over the next two years. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on the day Murtha offered his plan, "As for Iraq policy, at the right time, we'll have a position."

Emanuel was one of Clinton’s most astute strategists and his remark on “the right time” is pregnant with irony and contradicts Pelosi's statement proclaiming diversity in 2006. Timing does not seem to be Pelosi’s strongest suit. Nor does leadership.

Pelosi said she had not consulted with Dean or Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) before taking her position. Her action angered some Democrats, who believed it left the party vulnerable to criticism from the Republicans, but cheered the party's antiwar activists who want party leaders to challenge Bush more vigorously on the war.

Perhaps the fact that Pelosi represents San Francisco’s left-most district causes her naturally to go after the whacko activists.

But Balz slips in his best shot for Pelosi’s claim of numerous unenumerated victories, naming only Bush's failed attempt to modify Social Security.

"Not only did we take him down on that, but we took down a lot of his credibility as being somebody who cared about 'people like me,' " she said.

Pelosi is one of the richest Democratic members of Congress, owning a large chain of restaurants that do not employ unionized workers, and a Napa Valley vineyard and spa complex catering to a very wealthy clientele.

Populist Pelosi says “People like me” as she pays minimum wages to non-union employees of her numerous family enterprises.

Don’t look for the Dems to take over the House under her “leadership.”