Nancy Pelosi's Power Trip
By Carey Roberts (04/11/07)
One of feminists' favorite slogans goes like this: "Well-behaved women seldom make history." If you consider a House speaker who meets with a terrorist thug to be historical, then Nancy Pelosi recently proved that slogan to be true.
Defying Bush administration requests, Pelosi traveled last week to Israel and Syria hoping to thaw the ice between the long-standing Middle East adversaries. But Pelosi ignored the fact that Syrian president Assad represents an implacable threat to the region.
Pelosi garnered headlines last Wednesday with the claim that Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert was “ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel.”
But hours later the prime minister’s office issued a clarification -- Israel’s position had not changed, and chided Syria because it “continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East.”
Pelosi’s grandstanding attracted criticism from liberal and conservative commentators alike. The Washington Post called her trip “foolish” and an attempt to “substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president.” Vice president Cheney said the trip represented “bad behavior on her part.” Others called her effort “embarrassing” and “reckless.”
Shortly after the November elections, N.O.W. president Kim Gandy lionized Nancy Pelosi as the “first woman and self-identified feminist to become Speaker of the House.” Since then Pelosi seemingly has been obsessed with women and power. But Mrs. Pelosi is not the only high-profile politician to be caught up in a passion-pink power trip.
When senator Hillary Clinton traveled to New Hampshire last month, she commented, “I don't know about you, but I like seeing women in charge.” No one in the mainstream media seemed to be fazed by the sexist overtones of the remark. [http://newsbusters.org/taxonomy/term/522]
So can we look forward to hearing attorney John Edwards exclaim, “I don’t know about you, but I like seeing trial lawyers in charge”? And will Mitt Romney be announcing that he’s hoping to soon see Mormons run the show?
It’s Hillary who keeps harping on her quest to “break the biggest glass ceiling in the land,” as she remarked last week. Remember that in fem-speak, “glass ceiling” is code language for “evil patriarchy.”
Mrs. Clinton’s real message to women, of course, is that her XX genetic make-up should trump her scanty legislative accomplishments, far-left policy positions, and grating personality.
One of Clinton’s biggest boosters is CBS anchor Katie Couric. Among the three major networks, Couric’s ratings are mired in last place, which may have something to do with her habit of unabashed cheerleading for feminist causes. Here’s one of Katie’s recent blog commentaries: “Women in power create MORE powerful women.” [www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/02/12/couricandco/entry2465768.shtml]
Rosie O’Donnell, host of The View, is another reason we should be thankful for woman’s lib. The day after the State of the Union address, the discussion of world news turned to Nancy Pelosi. That inspired Barbara Walters to triumphantly raise her clenched fist while Rosie sang a round of “I am woman, hear me roar.” (Yes, seriously.)
But there’s a problem with the girl-power gig -- it quickly morphs into a frenzied paean to the uber-female.
Take a recent broadcast from National Public Radio’s Weekend America: [http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2006/11/18/on_the_hill.html]
Newly-elected congresswoman Nancy Boyda from Kansas exclaimed, “women are going to be less inclined to look at the politics and just say, you know, I need health care for my family.” And Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona gushed, “women tend to be a better part of the process” and “we get so much done because we make lists.”
Who am I, after all, to dispute that well-honed logic?
On January 17 Diane Sawyer lead off her Good Morning America interview with 16 female senators with this question: “Do you believe that if there were more women presidents in the world, there would be less war?”
Apparently Sawyer never heard of Queen Mary I, the 16th century monarch of England. Affectionately known as Bloody Mary, she ordered 283 persons burned at the stake for religious heresy.
But my all-time favorite is the exchange that took place between a fawning Diane Sawyer and exultant Nancy Pelosi the day she was named Speaker of the House. Are you ready for this eye-witness account of history in the making?
Here’s Diane’s set-up: “We’re walking along with the camera, she looks at the carpet. It has lint on it, little scraps of paper. She can’t stand it. She gets down and cleans the carpet so we could walk.”
And Nancy’s aw-shucks explanation: “It’s just a bonus of having a female Speaker of the House.”
Yes, really.
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