Pelosi Pulls Rank On Obama
Attempting to stave off a Clinton-esque marginalization by a centrist Obama administration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has instructed Obama to run all communications with Congressional Democrats through her.
In talks with Emanuel and others, sources say, Pelosi has “set parameters” for what she wants from Barack Obama and his White House staff — no surprises, and no backdoor efforts to go around her and other Democratic leaders by cutting deals with moderate New Democrats or conservative Blue Dogs.
Specifically, Pelosi has told Emanuel that she wants to know when representatives of the incoming administration have any contact with her rank-and-file Democrats — and why, sources say.
Let’s say that again: The Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives has essentially ordered the incoming Democratic President to avoid communicating with any Democratic Representatives without her express permission.
And again: Speaker Pelosi has claimed ownership over Democratic Congressmen, prohibiting the White House from communicating with them except through her.
The Bad News: A more mind-boggling power grab is scarcely possible to imagine. Apparently, the Speaker is such a complete control freak that she is unwilling to allow any of “her” people to even talk to the White House without controlling their content and maintaining a personal veto on their discussions. The “progressive” wing of the party that Pelosi represents from her San Francisco redoubt can use this to keep the party’s moderates sidelined and silent.
The Good News: Those who feared that single-party government would result in a lock-step executive/legislative behemoth for Democrats can relax a little. Unless Obama surrenders to this (which is highly unlikely), Democrats have plenty of potential for intra-party squabbles over the spoils of victory and how to allocate them in both style and substance.
RedState speculates (correctly) that Pelosi has no realistic chance of actually enforcing her dictatorial mandate.
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