One of the great pleasures of newspaper reading is discovering two items that have nothing to do with one another, except in one's own mind. This morning's NYTimes produced a juxtaposition, at least in my brain.
How are Nancy Pelosi and Theresa May alike and unalike? How are their political circumstances alike and unalike? Do the like and unalike tell us anything about the political cultures in which Nancy and Theresa operate?
The Pelosi story concerns her "frenemies" relations with Steny Hoyer (the House Democrat's second in command). He will not accept the deal she has made with the newbie Dems to turn over speaker command in 2022. Hoyer isn't having it; he will not give up second-in-command in 2022, nor turn down the speakers job, if offered. (Ignore the fact that both will be in their eighth decade!).
The op-ed on Theresa May is subtitled: "She has Britain’s grudging respect. And not much more." Of course, it is about Brexit! May is not popular, and never was. She took on an impossible task, boxing out radical Brexiters like Boris Johnson, and carryied on with the (small majority) mandate from the UK voters to exit the EU. The deal she negotiated is not popular, and has no majority anywhere is parliament, nor with the voters. Still, she has "carried on" like this is WW2, earning the grudging respect of the English, if not the Scottish or Irish.
This week Pelosi proved herself a superior match to the President (whether or not you approve her tinkling skunk metaphor) and she has cut a deal with the newbies, half of whom will be gone in the 2020 election. May has proved herself a match to all her critics, pro and con, in wrenching a Brexit deal that is likely to fall to a second referendum. In their own way each has "carried on," and each has earned respect, even if grudging, of their fellow countryman. In that, they are alike. Unalike? You tell me!
Theresa May doesn't strike me as particularly radical. I think Nancy Pelosi probably fits in a good deal more comfortably with the radical wing of her party, on signature issues like a $15 minimum wage, free college tuition and single-payer health insurance (none of which seems that radical to me - and I'm conservative!)
ReplyDeleteJim, Nancy Pelosi's 12th district is entirely within San Francisco. San Francisco. San Francisco, as in "San Francisco Democrats" -- the phrase Jeanne Kirkpatrick used to exclude 700,605 Americans from the legitimate United States. More than half of Pelosi's voters are college graduates; 47 percent are ethnic minorities; I don't have handy how many are LGBT. California's new governor, Gavin Newsom, lives there. Paul Ryan couldn't get 50 votes there if he were giving away bratwurst. John Boehner could never have gotten on the ballot. Point is, NANCY PELOSI REPRESENTS HER DISTRICT, and he people in her district are Americans, whether the GOP likes it or not. BTW she'd do pretty well running in Janesville, but, yeah, probably a non-factor in Dayton.
Delete"Paul Ryan couldn't get 50 votes there if he were giving away bratwurst."
DeleteGotta love it.
I hadn't heard what she said about the tinkling skunk, so of course I looked it up. Turns out I am familiar with the expression, only my dad would have put it a little less PC (or is it PG?) Anyway, it's the blunt truth about the situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that both May and Pelosi are similar in their perseverance in "carrying on". And I also believe that both are similar in that they have experienced their share of dog-whistle misogyny.
I don't see much comparison between the ladies, other than the sheer doggedness that underlies so much political success. May is playing an impossible hand; if I'd been her adviser I would have had her luxuriating in Ibiza without a phone when the Tories went looking for someone to replace Cameron. Pelosi is returning to the scene where she managed to get passed the last piece of significant legislation Congress has managed to pass, the Affordable Care Act. Republican representatives who thought that was a loser and ran against it this year ran right of office. The voters may hate Obamacare, but they love what is in ACA. I'll nominate it for Most Significant against the Wall if the Wall ever passes.
ReplyDelete"Sheer doggedness" seems right.
DeleteYet....Pelosi is a pol in the U.S. style, that is, she's quick on her (high-heels) and, as they say, knows how to count her votes. Her father was also a pol in the urban, Democratic style. Presumably the deal with the newbies means she also knows how to deal and negotiate.
Theresa May? (I often see photos of her in low-heeled shoes. Does that matter? Don't know). She is a Conservative, daughter of a minister, very tall, and probably someone whose word is sacrosanct, at least to herself. She will do what she says she will do. That may be her undoing. She was a remainer during the referendum campaign, but agreed to follow through on brexiting when she got the PM job. Now....??? Should she have read the radical brexiters more closely? Should she have wheeled and dealed with sympathetic Tory and Labour parliamentarians. In her favor, I looks like Jeremy Corbyn is no more agile than she on negotiating five steps ahead of her opponents. Maybe this is just English.
I didn't know May was the daughter of a minister. I knew Angela Merkel was. Is there a pattern here? That somehow that kind of an upbringing presupposes women to a leadership role? Of course there hasn't been a parallel in Catholicism, since we haven't (officially) had daughters of clergy. Be interesting to see if daughters of deacons show an inclination for political leadership.
DeleteKatherine - your comment prompted me to google "deacon's daughter wins election", just to see if anything helpful was returned. Nearly all of the hits on the first page turned out to be for the television show "Nashville". As I've never watched it, I have no idea why that is. And I know my reporting this does nothing to advance the conversation. Just thought it was interesting/weird.
DeleteTheresa May's provinance (Wikipedia):
DeleteBorn on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex, May is the only child of Zaidee Mary (née Barnes; 1928–1982) and Hubert Brasier (1917–1981). Her father was a Church of England clergyman (and an Anglo-Catholic) who was chaplain of an Eastbourne hospital. He later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop and finally of St Mary's at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford. May's mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party.
She initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a state school in Heythrop, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke, which closed in 1984.
When she was 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School, a state school in Wheatley. During her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised and the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School. May later attended the University of Oxford where she read geography at St Hugh's College, graduating with a second class BA degree in 1977.
ETC. ETC......
Nancy is at a disadvantage with her parentage, Roman Catholic that she is. However, having a priest as a secret father is not an unknown happenstance.
DeleteWhat? Pelosi's father was a Priest??? Let's have some evidence!
DeleteMore than you may want to know about how Pelosi saved the speakership, at least for four years.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/13/nancy-pelosi-speakership-1063494
This is definitely and in the weeds account, but it shows Pelosi's skills and her stamina.
Could she get the PM out of the hole on Brexit? (Corbyn is making noises about a vote of confidence if the DUP will go along.) As I said earlier, give the north of Ireland back to Ireland and the backstop problem would go away! But, then, of course, the English people would have to consider if they really, really wanted to Brexit.
See also: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/opinion/theresa-may-brexit.html
ReplyDeleteAnd this:
DeleteTheresa May Is Determined — and Doomed
She has Britain’s grudging respect. And not much more.
By Rosa Prince
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/opinion/theresa-may-brexit-sympathy.html
This from economist Dean Baker regarding Pelosi and a pay go rule she supports to self-hamstring the new Democratic majority.
ReplyDeletehttp://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/pelosi-would-sabotage-progressive-agenda-with-pay-go-rules
We really need a voting scheme that'll bring in third and fourth parties. Until then, politicians like Ocasio are new wine in a ragged old wineskin.
Two words about third parties: Ross Perot. Maybe we need a monkey wrench in the works, but there are unintended consequences.
DeleteAbout Ocasio Cortez, she's been doing a lot of talking. But I'm interested in seeing what happens where the rubber meets the road with all the newbies.
Katherine, I think the primary opposition to the newbies lies within the Democratic Party. The spoiler factor of third party candidates can be removed by instituting instant runoff voting. Maine already has this.
DeleteStanley, No doubt Australians, Papua New Guineans and the Irish (for president only) can understand the instant run-off. Because they use it. In Maine, where they tried to use it, everybody is suing everybody else, and as a church usher, I have to say it is beyond the abilities of Americans, who can't even get "up the center aisle and back through the side aisle" through their minds, or maybe wills, even though they try and mess it up every week.
DeleteLocally, we found many spoiled ballots by Republican over-votes in Palm Beach County because the rock-ribbed could't spot the difference between REP (for Republican) and REF (for Reform Party) and so voted for both wherever there was a REF in the race. And you want people like that to try ranking???
TB, what a coincidence you mention this!
Delete"as a church usher, I have to say it is beyond the abilities of Americans, who can't even get "up the center aisle and back through the side aisle" through their minds, or maybe wills, even though they try and mess it up every week."
Our parish church has a pretty unique physical set-up. A heating pipe runs up at a right angle between the pews and the middle and side aisles. As a result people from the middle who are too lazy to walk around back to their middle aisle seat have to climb over this pipe (say 18 inches). And they do; some move more gracefully than others.
We used to be well-disciplined in this: people from the side went to communion first and then those from the middle; everyone wound up walking around. NO longer! It's a mess. Change of management.
I am waiting for some lumbering fool to fall flat on his/her face tripping over the pipe and suing the parish fro abuse! You heard it here first....
But no instant run-off here, except at the mouth!
Well, Tom, there is that. We, along with Burma and Liberia, are one of the three countries that hasn't switched to the metric system. We also can't abandon the paper dollar that costs more than a dollar to print. But, with ranked voting, I don't see any other way out of the present impasse except maybe civil disorder which is simple to understand but whose consequences are hard to predict. I guess I can't get through the day without a dose of cockeyed optimism and misplaced faith in my fellow Americans and humans in general.
ReplyDeleteHell's bells! We don't even accept the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which is legal tender for all debts, public or privatr! A Canadian wrote our national anthem. "I did it myyyyyyyyyy way."
Delete