Does She Have The Right?

"A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes." So stated Nancy Pelosi on State of the Union Sunday morning.

One thing I have to say for the woman, she appears to truly believe we should have a socialistic medical system under the thumb of the government. When I said in a recent post we should be looking for candidates who have convictions and the courage to stick with them, Nancy Pelosi is certainly one such. My question is, because she has the top leadership position in the House, does she have the right to force her personal conviction, with coercion and bribes, on other members of the body in order to secure their votes? To my way of thinking, that's an abuse of power.

She went on to say, "Republicans have left their imprint." Yes, they have, or at least they've tried. From my perspective their views, as put forth at the summit, were met with disdain, contradiction and condescension. For Pelosi to continually harp on how the Republicans have been misrepresenting the contents of the bill because "that's what they do" is beginning to ring hollow. The other guy is always the bad guy even if they're correct.

The reality is that people have begun to pay attention to what the government is doing and they're not happy.

While Pelosi has proven effective at "muscling out votes", it seems to me she is lacking in true leadership skills. Had she been willing to include the Republicans in planning sessions at the beginning of the process, been willing to incorporate their ideas along with the Democrats, we may have been able to avoid this cat fight and already have legislation passed. As it is now, if it passes she will have sacrificed the more moderate members of her own party and thoroughly alienated a large segment of the voting public.

She may win one for Obama and herself but at what price? Back to my point on choosing good candidates regardless of party, those already elected have a responsibility in choosing their own leadership. Those who wear blinders to all but their own ideology should not be placed in leadership positions any more than Charlie Rangel should be given a pass on his tax dodging when he chairs the Ways and Means Committee that is responsible for taxation issues! "It was a staff error," is so lame he should have been embarrassed to utter it. But then these people are beyond being embarrassed over anything. They are also beyonf taking responsibility for their own actions and will always find someone else to blame. It's a disgusting state of affairs!

Oh, yes. All the above critique also applies to Harry Reid. Along with every Republican who may aspire to these heights when their turn comes.