In 2017, Nancy Pelosi helpfully explained “the wrap-up smear.”

“You demonize — we call it the wrap-up smear.  If you want to talk politics.  We call it the wrap-up smear.  You smear somebody with falsehoods and all the rest and then you merchandise it and then you [members of the press] write it and they’ll say, see, it's reported in the press that this, this, this and this, so they have that validation that the press reported the smear and then it's called a wrap-up smear.  Now I am going to merchandise the press' report on the smear that we made. It's a tactic.”

On Wednesday, Mrs. Pelosi was asked a couple of Biden-related questions by a black, female (you’ll see why that’s relevant in a moment) CNN reporter, Rachel Scott.  Scott’s tweet about their encounter read, in part:

She (Pelosi) says she won’t make comments in the hallway about “the fate of our nation”

When I asked if Biden should run she said

“Am I speaking English to you? I’m not going to be making any statements about any of that right now in the hallway..”

Asking a black, female reporter whether or not she understands English is not a good look for a Democrat.  Really, for anyone, but most especially a Democrat.  We can all imagine what the reaction would be had Speaker Johnson or any Republican reacted the same way to such an obvious question.  And that’s all it was: an obvious, simple question.  A thorny one, to be sure, but it’s the only question worth asking on Capitol Hill these days, and an old hand like Madam Pelosi bristling at it is indicative of two things: 1. She is unaccustomed to being asked anything even resembling a tough question, and 2. The stakes.  They could not be higher.

Ms. Pelosi has been on television encouraging the president to “make a decision,” as if his two-page Monday-morning letter to all the 535 senators and representatives stating unequivocally that he wasn’t stepping aside wasn’t enough.  And to be fair to Ms. Pelosi, it really wasn’t.  When the question on the line is whether or not you are able to function...live...a pre-written letter, no matter its contents, is hardly an answer.  Nor is another pre-taped interview, which the president will do on Monday on NBC News, which was just announced.  And Monday, well...Monday may be too late.

Pelosi put a clock on the thing.  “Time’s running out,” she said.  The conventional wisdom is that the president’s fate must be wholly and holistically decided by close of business Friday.  That’s reportedly what the Hill buzz is.  So far, the representatives have been the most vocal, with a half-dozen or so coming out so far and saying outright that POTUS should step aside.  Finally, the upper chamber’s Democrats met yesterday, and their line appears to be Pelosi’s: they “trust” that Joe Biden will “do the right thing” and do it in a timely manner.

The panic is palpable.  CNN’s Dana Bash tweeted:

.@davidaxelrod tells me on @InsidePolitics that George Clooney's assessment of Joe Biden was “devastating and it's what people fear.” @jonfavs, who was at Clooney's fundraiser, adds “every single person I talked to at the fundraiser thought the same thing.”

Ruh-roh.  When you’ve lost Hollywood...especially this guy, who just raised thirty-million dollars for him not three weeks ago.  And whom was he on stage with?  His good friend, Barack Obama.

There is zero, dare I say, less than zero chance that George Clooney called for Biden to stand down without The One’s blessing.  And everyone knows it.

Heavy hitters from Obama world are now out and loud that Joe’s gotta go.  So what’s Nancy waiting for?  Why be so equivocal?  Why be equivocal at all?

Well, there’s some speculation that the Hill is waiting for NATO to clear out of town, because there’s so much kickback cash at stake.  There’s also the “big boy” press conference POTUS will give today.  But one wonders if it’s one more piece of news she’s waiting for.

Now, this wrap-up smear would very likely have the added benefit of being true, but who knows?  Maybe it will come out that POTUS really did poop his pants at the Vatican, or at the G7, and that’s why Jill suddenly led him off stage way before he was supposed to exit.  Who knows?  But there’s a palpable sense of suspense in Ms. Pelosi’s message.

She’s waiting.  Waiting for something...to wrap this thing up.

We shall see.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.