Nancy Pelosi is already at it again. Not even 24 hours after the election she is presuming to tell the new President how to govern, this from the AIG shareholder who brought us the mess of a bailout bill that pretty much everyone admits needs to be rescued.

As I heard it on the radio, Pelosi said the Democrats need to govern from the middle. Her actual words were:

But the fact is that a new president coming in, in my view, must take the country down the middle to solve the problems, to gain the confidence, to take us more strongly in a new direction.

Well, Ms. Pelosi, I beg to differ with you. You do not–you can not–govern from a place; you govern from principles. But then maybe if you don’t have the latter, you have to settle for the former.

What is the middle anyway? Where and how do you find it? One can imagine Pelosi applying such a strategy during the days when the country dealt with Civil Rights or segregation. “Oh, you wish to have separation of the races. Won’t you at least agree to separate but equal?”

In his brilliant speech the night of the election, Barack Obama outlined some of the principles he was going to use to govern and I would suggest instead of holding press conferences the morning after the election that Speaker Pelosi might want to find a copy of that speech and review it if she wishes to be of real help to this President.

He spoke about the realities of America today:

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor’s bills, or save enough for their child’s college education. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

And in a direct reference to Dr. King’s last speech he spoke about the difficulties that lie ahead:

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

Then he spoke of principles:

This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: yes, we can.

Let me repeat that one phrase:

Reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one.

In that phrase is the echo of the level playing field that Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman affirmed.

Also notice something Nancy Pelosi ignored: Obama never uses the word “centrist” or “center” in his speech. He speaks of bringing Americans together, of working with all Americans,  but he says nothing about centrism. By attempting to cast the agenda as “centrist,” Pelosi was making a huge policy decision and characterization for her party and placing her President in an extremely awkward situation. In short, she either doesn’t get it or made a remarkably arrogrant and stupid power play.

The Speaker of the House does not set the agenda for America or for the Democratic Party or for the Obama Administration. She does not even set it for the House of Representatives–if she wants to remain Speaker for very long.  Pelosi appears to understand none of this.

Not only did Speaker Pelosi step over the line with her “center” remark, she went even further by proposing what should be the first piece of legislation in the House, this without any apparent consultation with our new President. The bill she proposed, the Bush-vetoed children’s health insurance initiative, is a much-needed piece of legislation and passing it would signal how the new administration will differ from the last. But President Obama may have other ideas.

Pelosi essentially shut him out, for she made a key policy decision without consulting with him. The first bill of any session–and especially of any new President–is an important symbol, for it signals the direction the new administration intends to take. Nancy Pelosi essentially preempted Barack Obama from making that decision.

I am sorry, Speaker Pelosi, but you are not in charge of this country, Barack Obama is and the quicker you learn that the better America will be. What she should have done is to request a meeting with Obama (I am sure he has her on his calendar) and then the two could have issued a joint statement.

But instead Pelosi called her own press conference and proceeded to talk policy in a way that amounts to a dissing of the new President while they are still counting votes in some states. At this point Barack Obama needs for all Americans–but especially members of his own party–to rally around him, not tell him what to do.

Perhaps this is what lies behind Obama’s consideration of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff. I have not been an Emanuel fan, but one thing the man knows how to do is to deal with legislators. It is clear problem number one is none other than the Speaker of the House.

Tagged with: Barack Obama • chief of staff • children's health Insurance • Democratic Party • Democrats • Dr. King • Franklin Roosevelt • Harry Truman • level playing field • Nancy Pelosi • patriotism • principles • Rahm Emanuel • the middle • Woodrow Wilson