No matter. For Republicans, it makes much more sense to focus their disdain on the speaker rather than Mr. Obama, who remains very popular.

They cannot afford to attack him too harshly because any assault could easily boomerang, especially since Mr. Obama has been openly reaching out to Republicans. And by trying to associate themselves with the president, Republicans also hope to create a perception of some distance between the White House and the Democratic Congress, a gap Republicans would like to wedge themselves into.

From Ms. Pelosi’s vantage point, the Republican strategy is simply evidence of their own failures.

“To the extent that they have attacked me, it is because House Democrats have been so successful in working with President Obama to bring the change that America so desperately needs,” Ms. Pelosi said in comments provided by her office. “It doesn’t bother me  I’m in the arena.”

Ms. Pelosi and Republicans have frequently clashed over the past two years, with the speaker showing little patience for what she sees as obstructionism and game-playing, and with them bridling at both her ideological bent and leadership style.

Image Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi during a news conference on Capitol Hill last week. Credit... Mike Theiler/European Pressphoto Agency

But the fact is that while Ms. Pelosi’s liberalism might have a bit more of a San Francisco edge to it than Mr. Obama’s progressivism, the two share plenty of common philosophical ground and have similar policy goals. House Democrats may have stuffed a few clunkers into the $787 billion economic stimulus legislation crafted under Ms. Pelosi’s direction, but Mr. Obama was totally on board with the vast majority of the bill.