Believe It Or Not: Nancy Pelosi's Speech To Netroots
Nation
27 July 2010By Jane Stillwater
The water here in Las Vegas sucks eggs. My tea tastes
like metal. And the sad thing is that the water power
to the 27th floor of the Rio hotel is so weak that I
have to run my bath water for 15 minutes before it
becomes even warm -- let alone hot. What a waste of
the Ogalala aquifer. It breaks my heart to see all
that water go down the drain. But will I just break
down and take a cold shower? Would you? Er, no.
With a shower or not, it was still time to go listen
to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talk. Would she convince
me that Congress isn't being run by special interests
and theat she, Harry Reid and President Obama haven't
sold out? Will they convince you? Let's see. Here are
my quickly-typed-up notes -- from the front row. They
may not be completely accurate, however. Blame that on
my tenth-grade typing teacher.
When Nancy Pelosi came onstage, the first big question
was whether her right-wing detractors were correct and
she did have a face-lift. It was hard to tell. She
does have a big smile. Maybe she was born that way?
"Pushing the gate open on healthcare was a big job but
we did it. The leverage in Congress had to change from
being in favor of the insurance companies to being in
favor of the people. And we couldn't have done it
without you." Without me? Am I finally getting some
recognition? That would be nice.
But wait. Has Rush Limbaugh gotten a face-lift? Do I
get the right to ask that about him? And what about
Dick Cheney? How come I don't look as good at that
age? "Because Cheney eats babies..." someone once
said. But I digress.
OMG! They are gonna play a tape sent to us by
President Obama! "We've been working hard for the past
18 months but I know that, for many of you, change
hasn't come fast enough. But it took a long time to
get here and it will take a long time to make it
happen. But in ways large and small, we are working to
make changes happen." Then the Pres showed a tape of
Rachel Maddow listing all of this administration's
accomplishments.
"We're moving America forward,:" the President
continued. "And that's the challenge we face in
November. Keep holding me accountable. Change doesn't
come from the top down. It comes from the bottom up.
Let's finish what we've started." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-Uuooz-Zo
At the news stand here, the Globe (a National Enquirer
wannabe) is pushing a front cover story that Obama was
actually born in KENYA. They are still pushing that
story? Give me a break.
"Will we see passage of ENDA any time soon?" someone
asked Pelosi.
"It's almost embarrassing that it took Congress so
long to pass a bill eliminating hate crimes. We're
very proud that we passed a repeal of 'Don't ask Don't
tell' in the house. When we started work on hate
crimes, it was 22 years ago and we're still against
any form of hate crime."
Pelosi then encouraged us to be leaders in this field
of ending all discrimination in this country. "We won
the 'Don't Ask' repeal by 40 votes. That's a big
majority." And there's an education bill in the works
too -- the Promise Act. Good.
"Republican senators have held up many job-creation
bills, so we never know what will go on in the Senate
-- so we been pushing education bills into other bills
as well. But we are still pressing for a comprehensive
education bill."
Pelosi is also pressing for comprehensive immigration
reform. "What is happening in Arizona shouts out for
getting a comprehensive bill passed. We have to keep
the heat on for that."
Protecting Social Security? "I am opposed to raising
the retirement age. Here's the context. We must be
fiscally responsible and subject our spending to harsh
scrutiny and are moving on all fronts to remove the
deficit. But talking about Social Security and the
deficit is like between apples and oranges. To change
Social Security in order to balance the budget, they
aren't the same thing in my view. As we make it more
solvent, it will have a positive impact on the
deficit. But we support Social Security. Our senior
citizens should know that. This is its 75th
anniversary."
When Social Security was first implemented, Frances
Perkins went to Pres Roosevelt and told him about her
plan, and he replied, "You've convinced me completely.
Now make me do it."
"We can do only so much maneuvering," Pelosi
continued, "but we really do need outside persuasion.
Just ourselves alone can't make this happen. If you
want these changes to come, make us do it."
In 2008, the president was inaugurated and he called
for swift action. One week and one day after that,
this congress passed the recovery act that saved 1.6
million jobs. "And we are going forward, not going
back. Our goal is to reduce the deficit, reduce taxes
for the middle class and to create jobs around climate
change."
The House passed the unemployment bill last December
but the Senate held it up until now. "We have a whole
list, all of it paid for, but they dropped all the job
incentives and just sent us back the bare bones. They
demanded cuts to this unemployment bill but then
demanded 700 billion dollars in unpaid-for tax
benefits for the rich. Thank God we made the bill
retroactive. But how many people can wait the
additional six weeks for that check to arrive? This
delay was due to the obstructiveness of the Senate.
But. We are going forward, not going back. Obama has
created more jobs so far than Bush did during his
entire eight years in office.
'Jobs are important but people need to see what the
Republicans are doing about this. Nothing."
"We want more manufacturing in America -- as a way to
develop more jobs in America. Where our manufacturing
heartland had been, we must stop the erosion of these
jobs. 39 Republicans voted against our 'Fairness to
American Manufacturers' bill. Anyone can bid on
contracts here in the US so we are trying to get some
reasonableness on this. In China you can't bid on
contracts if you are from outside the country. We need
to do that here too. This is very exciting."
The House is also working on a bill that will
differentiate between crack and powdered cocaine.
"When I became Speaker, my flagship interest was
energy self-sufficiency and climate change
legislation. This is not an issue the Senate can walk
away from. It is a national safety issue, a health
issue. We are either going to lead the world on this
issue or be left behind. We have a moral commitment to
pass this planet onto the next generation." Billions
of dollars go out of the country each day because of
foreign oil. The emissions continue. We have to
continue this fight."
"Do you plan to challenge big money's special
interests?" someone asked.
"No use bringing up a bill unless you can show
strength. You can't show weakness. Get up and show
Congress how much this is of interest to you. It's
fundamental to a democracy. Make your voices known on
this subject. We can maneuver and persuade and this
and that -- but remember Pres Roosevelt. Citizens
United was a horrible decision. Foreign countries can
now be having a large influence because of this,
because there is now no full disclosure. PEOPLE [not
corporatists] need to be in charge of our government.
So let's grab that ball and run with it. I like to
show strength going to the floor. In 2006 and 2008,
the leverage changed -- to the consumers. The finance
bill was the most important financial change in
decades. And the most consumer protection in history.
The leverage has changed. And in health too. For
instance, it's no longer a liability to be a woman."
Regarding energy? "The oil patch, coal patch, every
patch in the world was coming against us. This next
election is very important. We need to have no regrets
-- that we took responsibility. One in fifty kids in
America is homeless. We need to bring education and
jobs to every level in America. Prosperity on Wall
Street at the cost of jobs on Main Street? How dare
they?"
Some Senators look with fondness on the Bush
administration, according to Pelosi. "But we are not
going back. We now represent the American middle
class."
Someone asked Pelosi about the role of women. "Running
for office is not for the faint of heart. It's all
about power. Know your power. If you go out there to
run, it's difficult. But know who you are and don't
let anybody diminish your knowledge or experience.
Women hold the key to our future. I was a mother of
five kids in six years -- so I got a sense of
discipline and organization that way. We need young
women at the seat of power. Some may not chose to go
the family route but whatever your path, do it. Your
presence at the seat of power is very important. Know
YOUR power. What you bring to it. There is a whole
change in what your daughters can do now. Young girls
can go on to do anything and everything. And it's
their patriotic duty to step up."
Pelosi is inspired by the women who went before her.
"I went to the White House for my first meeting as a
representative of the Democrats. I had no
apprehensions because I'd been there before. I was
sitting at the table of power and I felt packed and
jammed on my chair. Sitting on the chair with me was
Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Stanton, etc. All on that
chair. And I could hear them say, 'At last we have a
seat at the table.' And then they were gone. My first
thought was, 'We want more.' We all understand our
responsibility to women. We have every difference
among us that we can name -- but because we are
different, we build a very strong fiber listening to
each other. We all want to do great things for our
country. We all strive for common ground. But if we
can't get bipartisanship, if we can't get it, we are
still not going back!"
And the speech was over and we applauded. But what did
her speech mean? Did it mean that she is still a
progressive and is merely being held back from
creating a true American democracy by Republican
fossils who regret that they can no longer live off of
America's blood and sweat like the vampires they are
(no wonder vampire flicks are so popular among our
youth!) Or has Pelosi, like so many of our other
legislators, sold out to the corporatists who think
that they own America -- and probably do.
Time will tell. But for right now. Nancy Pelosi is
pretty much all we've got standing between us and
complete oligarchy and the total end of our American
Dream. For this reason alone we may need to give her
more support -- and more snaps.
And last night I went to the Rio Hotel's fake Mardi
Gras celebration and caught two strings of beads from
the krews. I would have caught another string but just
as I reached out, so big young muscular guy elbowed me
aside and snagged it for himself. Hmmm. Was he going
to end up becoming a Republican senator too? More than
likely. Edging out Social Security recipients is
already his specialty it seems.
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