public service-redux

reflecting on an era

I planned to write about George Santos today because his story defies the imagination. The Democrats were fundamentally incompetent not to examine this guy. The Republicans are beyond cynical to entertain the notion of seating him. The press, with the exception of a small paper on Long Island that I heard about today, didn’t examine him over two Congressional campaigns. Apparently one reporter raised serious questions about his wealth accumulation but no one pursued the questions. And the electorate chose him in 2022 as their preferred Member in the House of Representatives.

As of 4.20 on the afternoon before the new Congress convenes, the Republican Party will seat Santos. I suspect (perhaps it is only hope) he will not survive the entire term more lies and exaggerations (such a charitable word) are likely to arise. Regardless of whether Kevin McCarthy achieves a lifelong desire to become Speaker or whether the position passes to Louisiana’s Steve Scalise, the Republicans have a narrow margin so they don’t have the luxury of denying Santos his seat. Based on watching politix in this city over decades, I cannot imagine the pressure on Santos to resign will fail. Then again, I am wrong on a number ot things.

I provide the photo of a beautiful sky we had on Spa Creek today as we close a different story: Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro Pelosi’s tenure as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. I realise that many of you will want to stop reading because you don’t like her; please bear with me. My reflexions are not about her so much as the role she played for our nation.

I don’t know Pelosi although I recall being seated behind her at the back of a United Airlines flight when I was taking students to Taiwan in May 2001. I am a political junkie; have been for fifty-five years so I recognised her when she boarded right before the door closed. We landed at SFO and it was amusing that Ms. Pelosi rushed to the exit as the plane was still on the tarmac. The attendants had to direct her back to her seat a couple of times (and one doesn’t have to spend that much time in San Francisco navigating to a gate!). The student sitting next to me asked why Pelosi was in such a rush and I snarkily said she is a prodigious fundraiser so I assumed she was en route to a luncheon or something. Needless to say she was the first person off the plane.

Nancy Pelosi’s skill as a fundraiser or a vehement opponent of the Chinese Communist Party were not the most lasting impact she will have had although she was known for these traits. Speaker Pelosi was born in 1940, winning a House seat at the age of 47 after raising five children. That alone was noteworthy for women of that era.

She was the first woman to serve as the second person in the line of succession for the Presidency should something horrible happen in our country, a contingency that doesn’t sound quite as improbable as it did when she took back the Speakership in 2019. I am confident that her father, an old time Bal’mere pol, never envisioned his daughter rising to that position. His son, probably, but a daughter? Women still were excluded de facto from the most rarified levels of the U.S. political power until her election by her raucus caucus. We have had, at the end of 2022, a single woman as Vice President and only one woman running as head of a major political ticket. And one woman as Speaker of the House. No women have led the Senate.

She assumed the Speakership in 2007. Pelosi was instrumental in passing the Affordable Care Act and several other pieces of legislation that changed this country. Again, I realise many folks oppose that legislation and that is how democracy works. I genuinely respect and honour every taxpayer’s personal assessment on our country.

Nancy Pelosi proved, however, that a woman had the ability, the fortitude, the tenacity, tact, energy, and lots of other nouns to lead one of our legislative bodies in a collaborative manner. She found a way to work within a challenging party during the most fractuous period in the past 160 years. Whether it was due to an African American president seen as expanding executive power or in response to a president who did not respect constitutional provisions on shared governance, Pelosi led when politix were really tough in this country.

For women in the United States, she has been an incredible role model. Her strength, her red coat with the sunglasses, her calm in the video we now have from the January 6th Committee on her laser focus on protecting the lives of her colleagues and staff—Democrats and Republicans—that afternoon when under siege represent are aspects many will recall. They the similarly important actions many women take daily in their homes, workplaces, and lives yet are discounted as less important than men’s work outside the home. Motherhood is a heavy duty task that requires the same negotiation skills any arms control negotiator must use yet women are treated as if their ‘home’ work doesn’t match up to what professionals do. Huh?

Pelosi was a visible surrogate for many—certainly not all—women who wanted to see half of our country take an integral position in both the day-to-day and strategic trajectories of the United States and run with them. She made mistakes, she disappointed many who thought she was truly superwoman. Pelosi infuriated many who saw her as a partisan and too liberal. But, Pelosi served the nation as a public servant for 35 years after a full career as a mother. And she chose to step down when she knew it was time to do so, a decision far too many political types rarely choose on their own. For my generation, she proved that things can get done and public service is a valuable career open to male and female citizens.

That career modeling is one I find truly remarkable. I am not sure when we will see another leader quite like her. I do believe she opened a door that woman will never allow to close again, regardless of some people who wish we would close the door. That is so crucial to the future of the United States and we are foolish, as we close this era and this year, to not be thankful that women have now seen this first in our nation’s history.

I look forward to your thoughts.FIN