PrintAugust 6, 2008
The Imperious Nancy Pelosi
Power is known to do some mighty strange things to otherwise quite normal people. At this perilous moment in our history, we have given a great deal of power to a kindly Catholic grandmother named Nancy. And, unfortunately for us little people, it seems to have gone straight to the little lady's head.
Nancy Pelosi has been Speaker of the House of Representatives for less than two years. Yet she has already waged war with the Pentagon over her use of military jets to return to her district[TL1] , ordered organic menus at government cafeterias, and pushed the Congress -- and all the rest of us -- green.
Not content to deal only with domestic policy and stay within the framework of her constitutional role as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi has traveled abroad as a foreign-policy emissary, spoke for America to the Israelis, then mis-spoke for the Israelis to the Syrians, then managed to worm her way out of the whole conundrum without so much as a broken nail.
This lady is wily; one must give her that.
Of course, some would consider Ms. Pelosi's housekeeping abilities to be somewhat less than she claimed before assuming her current role. Presiding over the most drastic plunge in the public's approval rating for the United States Congress ever seems to allow much room for improvement. With her Congress now at an unprecedentedly low 9% approval rating from the public she serves, it would seem very, very, very bad timing for imperious acts.
Imperious people rarely take proper note of personal limitations, however.
Ms. Pelosi, this week, imperiously deigned not to allow a vote on the lifting of the oil-drill ban. Then, when Republican Congressmen refused to halt the debate, attempting to force an up or down vote before the month-long vacation, Ms. Pelosi imperiously used her power over the electrical power and extinguished the lights.
At this very moment, Republicans are continuing the debate in the darkened halls of Congress, while Princess Pelosi is on vacation, carried back to California on one of our military jets and using lots and lots and lots of jet fuel to get there. American taxpayers all over the Land, many of whom could not even afford a modest summer vacation somewhere close by because of the high gas prices, are taking note.
This reminds many of us, me included, of Jimmy Carter's presidency, the gas lines, the super-inflation, and the service station signs that declared in bold letters: No Gas Today. "No Gas Today" or too-high-to-afford gas translates for many Americans, to no work today, which then translates to no food today.
Princess Pelosi has lived a life free of these mundane concerns, it seems.
Even though modern Democrats are becoming known for their historical Alzheimer's, I would encourage Ms. Pelosi, at this critical juncture in her career, to remember that Jimmy Carter was booted out handily. And if that memory does not stir her to return to finish her work in Washington before resuming her vacation, then perhaps she ought to consider the fate of another imperious woman from the history books.
Even though feminists have attempted to completely rid history of any ill-judgment of Marie Antoinette, legends rarely spring from nothingness, or even from pure misogyny. So I think it fairly safe to assume that even if the infamous French Queen Marie never actually told the bread-starved French folks to go eat cake, there was at least some fire in all the smoke that surrounded her.
Now I sincerely doubt that modern-day Americans will physically storm the halls of Congress; we are far too busy making a living. I doubt that Americans will mount another revolution to oust Princess Pelosi; we have the vote. And no matter how imperious Princess Pelosi becomes, I really do doubt that we Americans would employ the guillotine; there are so many more civilized ways of taking away power.
Over the past two weeks, our Congress has been flooded with petitions, emails, faxes and phone calls from the citizenry, demanding that a vote be taken on the oil-drill ban. All to no avail with this imperious woman, who does not exactly seem to regard herself as a humble servant of the people.
The President, who has been deemed by Democrats the most arrogant man alive, might be able to executively order that fuel for Ms. Pelosi's military jet be withheld, but I doubt he would ever do it. If she weren't so arrogant, she would fly back to Washington commercially, and lead by example when it comes to saving the planet. But imperious people rarely think this way.
It might be wise for Ms. Pelosi and her fellow Democrats to consider that when it comes to life choices, most normal people give priority to avoiding certain doom over avoiding possible doom. Not drilling, not taking advantage of every resource we have to efficiently increase our energy supply, leaves all Americans in grave danger of pretty certain doom.
Even the most imperious people ought to be able to understand this much, in my opinion.
Will they or won't they? That is the question of 2008.
Kyle-Anne Shiver is an independent journalist and a frequent contributor to American Thinker. She blogs at kyleanneshiver.com.
