With the passage of the Health Care reform bill, it must be said that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, has to be given the most credit for the major accomplishment!
Through thick and thin, under constant conservative and Tea Party and Republican attack, even on a personal level, Pelosi was able to keep her eye on the goal, and to prod and push not only her Democratic colleagues, but also President Obama, to get into the fray and fight for the legislation!
As The Economist magazine has said, Pelosi has become the most powerful woman in American history, and arguably the most powerful Speaker since Joe Cannon in the first decade of the twentieth century. She will go down as one of the greatest Speakers in her impact, along with Henry Clay, Sam Rayburn, and Thomas “Tip” O’Neill!
What angers so many critics is that here we have a woman, an Italian American Catholic, who had the “gall” to challenge the male chauvinist Republicans around her, particularly Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who came across as nasty, mean spirited, and narrow minded, a man who will go down in history as a “small minded” man who exploited every tactic possible to deny 32 million Americans the basic human right of health care!
So plaudits to Nancy Pelosi for her fantastic accomplishment! š