An e-mail:
On the other hand, wouldn’t the White House perhaps prefer a weak Pelosi to a strong Hoyer, which means that Emanuel becomes the de-facto Speaker of the House? At some point, Pelosi becomes so weak that she drags down the Democratic brand, and isn’t useful even with Rahm pulling her strings. But I’m not sure she’s at that point yet, and the WH might prefer to give her just enough support to make her weak-but-not-radioactive.