Pelosi received a hero’s welcome in Chicago after serving a key role in ousting Biden from the top of the ticket.
Chicago – When Nancy Pelosi kicked off her speech here in the United Center Wednesday evening she urged Americans to remember the “parable of January 6th” and how Democrats “saved democracy that day.”
But the second she walked on the stage, she got a victory lap for something else — helping facilitate the switcheroo at the top of the ticket and giving her party a reason to feel optimistic again. And Democrats here in Chicago are counting their lucky stars that she succeeded.
Eleven days after the debate, President Joe Biden penned a letter to congressional Democrats reaffirming his commitment “to staying in this race,” telling them that “question of how to move forward has been well-aired for a week now” and that it that it was time for this public airing of doubts about his candidacy “to end.”
Over Nancy Pelosi’s dead body. Two days later, the 84-year-old former Speaker joined the president’s favorite television program to issue a not-so-subtle warning to the president three years her junior — drop out, or the leaks will get ugly, and fast. “It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short,” she told MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “He is beloved, he is respected, and people want him to make that decision,” she said of the “decision” he’d spent days insisting he’d already made. “Whatever he decides, we go with.”
This skilled tactician’s interview served as permission for other Democrats who hadn’t already gone public with their concerns about Biden’s post-debate electoral viability to do the same. And follow her lead they did, telling reporters they had “confidence” Biden would do the “patriotic thing for the country” and “reach a conclusion as soon as possible” – code for drop out quickly.
It took eleven more days, but this laser-focused politico succeeded. And for that, Democrats are grateful. “Speaker Pelosi really understands what’s at stake in this election and the moral choice that the country is making in November, and she wants the party to put our best foot forward, and I think she’s acted in a responsible way to try to help make that happen,” Senator Michael Bennet (D., Colo.) told National Review on the way into the convention hall Wednesday evening.
At the top of her speech, she name-checked her old friend turned semi-nemesis, telling the crowd that “with the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we established one of the most successful presidencies of modern times.” The rest of her speech cheered on the new Democratic ticket, praised the administration’s legislative accomplishments, and dinged Donald Trump for his actions leading up to and following the storming of the U.S. Capitol three years ago.
“Thank God we had a Democratic House of Representatives. We returned to the Capitol that very same night,” she said. “We insisted on certifying the election results on the floor of the House and the Senate. And we demonstrated–to America and to the world–that American democracy prevailed.'”
Her onstage praise of Harris, whom she did not immediately endorse after Biden dropped out of the race, was tinged with a sprinkle of irony: “Politically, she is astute and strategic in winning difficult elections–quickly securing the nomination with dignity and grace and choosing Tim Walz as our vice president,” she told the crowd, alluding to the so-called open race to succeed Biden that was never really a race at all.
This is what Pelosi will be remembered for. On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom introduced himself as the governor “from the great state of Nancy Pelosi.” And throughout the week here in Chicago, some Democratic members of Congress are even sporting buttons with a photo of Pelosi under the word “Godmother” — an ode to her mob-boss like ruthlessness in helping her party win at all costs.
While Pelosi’s relationship with Biden dates back decades, her decision to nudge him out of the race may fracture their friendship permanently. The two reportedly haven’t spoken since he withdrew from the race, in no small part because of the no-regrets attitude she’s adopted in recent weeks as she sits for interviews to promote her new book, The Art of Power.
“It’s a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition?” she said in a TV interview on July 2. And even after he dropped out of the race, she kept on twisting the knife. “I’ve never been that impressed with his political operation,” she told the New Yorker. “They won the White House. Bravo. But my concern was: this ain’t happening, and we have to make a decision for this to happen. The President has to make the decision for that to happen.”
She has no regrets about the role she played in Biden’s ouster. “I have my relationship with the president, and I just wanted to win this election. So if they’re upset, I’m sorry for them, but the country is very happy,” she told the Washington Post in Chicago on Monday. “I don’t know who they are, but that’s their problem.” That attitude has translated into her public appearances as well. The highlight of the week for many political reporters may be watching the footage one videographer caught of her chanting “We Love Joe” along with the crowd in a rather unenthusiastic manner after Biden took the stage Monday evening.
Swing-state congressional Democrats who had long dreaded running for reelection with Biden atop the ticket can address their thank you notes to one of San Francisco’s ritziest neighborhoods — Pacific Heights. For without Pelosi, they may have had to listen to their old soon to be 82-year-old president address the convention Thursday night instead of on opening day.
“She is so skilled and tough and canny about achieving goals, and she clearly concluded at some point that the President couldn’t win and that he might take other Democrats down with him,” David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, said in an interview with National Review last week. Pelosi’s public and private role in forcing the president’s hand “may not have sat well with his team, and may not sat well with him, but the things that she said and did obviously were very impactful.”