Thursday, January 04, 2007

Madame Speaker



Nancy Pelosi has become the Speaker of the House. A historical moment for women, obviously, and Pelosi does compare it to breaking not the glass ceiling but the marble ceiling (ouch!). She is the closest a woman has ever been in the succession line to the presidency of the United States, and, sadly, probably the closest I will see a woman to that position.

You can read more about Pelosi's biography here, for example. Most articles I found on her today are positive or at least neutral, the only exception being the usual fly in the punchbowl, David Brooks, who thinks Nancy Pelosi is a caterer (from mcjoan on Kos):

She paid her dues selecting party favors, arranging seating charts (after that, legislation is easy), and laying thick dollops of obsequiousness on cranky old moguls and their helmet hair spa-spouses. She has done what all political fund-raisers do: tell rich people things they already believe, demonize the other side, motivate the giving with Manichaean tales of good versus evil

All that came out sounding very grumpy. That is the occupational disease of bloggers. But I'm really quite pleased and wish Pelosi luck now that she works under the magnifying glass of the whole world. Jeesh. You know what I mean.