San Diego Union Tribune

January 4, 2007

Celebrations of takeover now confront governing challenge

BY George E. Condon Jr.
Copley News Service

WASHINGTON  The election of California's Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House on Thursday was moving and historic, symbolizing the shift in power from Republican rule to a Democratic Party that has been mired in the minority for more than a decade. Clearly, this was a day for celebration, as even the House Republican leader hailed Pelosi's ascent to the highest constitutional office ever held by a woman.

But when the many standing ovations subsided and the dozens of fidgety children were ushered off the House floor, Democrats faced the daunting reality that their new majorities in Congress mean they must now prove they can be effective at governing.

With a Republican president brandishing a veto pen at the White House and a large GOP minority in the Senate easily able to block almost any action in that chamber, proving that may be an even bigger challenge than winning back the majorities in the 2006 election.

Even as they were celebrating Pelosi's election as speaker, Democrats both publicly and privately were giving indications that they understand those majorities could be very short-lived.

"Words are important, but we know so are actions," said veteran Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh. "When people voted, they not only voted for change but they were also giving Democrats an opportunity to show they could get the job done and that people could trust them. Now, Democrats have the chance in Congress to show just that - that people can trust them."

Part of that will come in the next two weeks when Pelosi tries to ram through a set of unrelated bills that she has promised to get adopted in the first 100 hours in which the body is in session. Those bills include an increase in the minimum wage, adoption of tougher congressional ethics rules, cutting interest rates on student loans and authorizing more research on stem cells.

The party hopes that such an immediate flurry of legislative activity will reassure voters in the short term. But Democrats know that they also need to demonstrate long term that they can deal with public unhappiness over the Iraq war, as well as the stereotypes of the party as soft on national security and terrorism.

To that end, Pelosi used her speech Thursday to attack the caricature of her that has been painted by opponents who delight in talking of national policy being set by a "San Francisco liberal." Pelosi talked of being "raised in a large family that was devoutly Catholic, deeply patriotic, very proud of our Italian-American heritage and staunchly Democratic." She hailed her husband and five children and thanked them for helping her "go from the kitchen to the Congress."

On issues, she first praised U.S. troops risking their lives overseas before demanding "a new direction" in the war in Iraq. And she coupled a long list of Democratic programs with a pledge of a "pay as you go, no new deficit spending" policy.

"She is determined to kill off every remaining bit of the caricature of her," said political analyst Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution.

A senior adviser to a Democratic senator said the tone was not accidental. Speaking on background, he said Democrats are trying hard not to read more into their election victories than the voters intended.

"What happened last November," he said, "is that the voters put both parties on probation. What they want now is progress and results on issues that matter to them. They don't care which party delivers. They just want Washington to work."

Democrats, of course, were not alone in reading this into the election results. Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the new Republican leader in the House, went out of his way to strike a bipartisan tone when he handed the gavel to Pelosi with a gracious speech in which he said, "Whether you're a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent, today is a cause for celebration."

In return, Pelosi pledged "a spirit of partnership, not partisanship." That pledge will be sorely tested in the coming days, and the bitter partisanship that so dominated Capitol Hill in recent years is far from gone. But, for one day at least, both sides agreed that a good first step had been taken. The politicians were trying to react to what they thought the voters were telling them.

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