Nancy Pelosi's Inevitable 'Bye Felicia' Moment
The Democrat Minority Leader in the U.S House of Representative is facing pressure from the public and from within her own party’s ranks.
The majority of Californians do not want her to remain as the top Democrat in the House. Moreover, her blunders have previously created infighting within the party and many of its candidates are distancing themselves from the increasingly unpopular Pelosi.
As this pressure continues to mount, surely — at some point — it will be enough to push her out of the scene. She faces populist and grassroots-driven forces, very similar to the ones that led to the departures of senior and notable politicians, both Democrat and Republican.
In other words, we might be saying “Bye Felicia” to Nancy Pelosi very soon. The term — used in the movie “Friday” — refers to getting rid of someone who is useless and undesirable.
Unhappy People:
Less than one-third (30 percent) of California Democrats want the San Francisco lawmaker to remain as their party’s leader in the House. Meanwhile, 44 percent would rather see her go, according to a poll that UC Berkeley conducted in the summer.
Over the past three decades, Democrats enjoyed comfortable control of the Golden State’s House and Senate. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only Republican elected governor in 24 years. And, needless to say, any Democrat running for U.S president or Senate can always count on California’s vote.
In turn, while in power, Democrats unleashed a vicious regulatory regime on businesses and taxed the state to the ground. Because of this, companies (therefore, jobs) started to leave and the cost of living skyrocketed. People are now angry, and who else is there to blame other than the party in charge of the government?
National Pressure:
Pelosi led the Democrat Caucus in the U.S House under three different presidents. She became the speaker of the House in 2007 and — 4 years later — was relegated to minority leader. If the party doesn’t regain a majority this year, Pelosi and company are looking at five election defeats in a row.
But this isn’t going unnoticed. Democrats nationwide are deciding that the troubled lawmaker’s incompetent leadership and public unpopularity is hurting their party.
For example, during the three-day government shutdown in February, Pelosi’s attempt at being a tough negotiator and taking a hardline stance on DACA failed miserably. In the end, 73 House Democrats (almost one-third of her caucus) ignored her and voted for the GOP budget that their leader opposed.
However, this was just the icing on the cake. Last year, the San Francisco lawmaker tried to expand her party base by appealing to socially conservative voters who oppose abortion. That backfired even more miserably. Top pro-choice leaders attacked her and a wave of in-fighting amongst Democrats and progressive organizations ensued.
Pelosi remarked that she, because of her Catholic faith, tends be open-minded and accepting of pro-life Americans. She said “most of those people — my family, extended family — are not pro-choice. You think I’m kicking them out of the Democratic Party?”
In light of this, senior party leaders were in an awkward position with their base, local and state candidates had to attack Pelosi, and the GOP had fresh ammunition to use against Democrats.
Forced to Resign?
Nancy Pelosi’s opponent, Stephen Jaffe, is a left-wing Democrat who enjoys support by pro-Bernie Sanders organizations, both locally and nationally. Unseating her, however, is more difficult. Jaffe raised just over $65,000 to Pelosi’s nearly $2 million in campaign funds, according to ballotpedia.org.
But the House minority leader can always resign. After all, this was the path to forced retirement — shall we say — that establishment Republicans like John Boehner, Jeff Flake and others followed.
For example, before Boehner was pressured into resigning as speaker of the House in 2015, the conservative House Freedom Caucus, right-wing senators and others made his job unbearable, especially with their sizable public following and popularity.
The End is Near?
Bernie Sanders’ popularity and widespread appeal during the 2016 election energized many anti-establishment Democrats. Now, likely presidential candidates in 2020 are also listening to the public’s unhappy voices and ignoring party leaders.
Chuck Schumer is still too new to feel overwhelmed. But for Pelosi, the time has come to leave the scene. All the ingredients that led to the downfall of booted establishment leaders are in place and, hopefully very soon, we will not be seeing much of her, either.
Haitham al Mhana is the chief operator of the UnCut Report. He was born in Saudi Arabia and lived in the U.K. before getting his B.A and MBA degrees in the U.S., where he currently resides. He moved to the Pacific Northwest 8 years ago.
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