Pelosi speaks derisively about the scorn Republicans have for this president. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Pelosi unplugged

Striking a tone of disgust, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi ridicules the GOP as obsessed with its loathing of President Obama and hell-bent on hurting him politically, regardless the cost. She assigns little to no blame to the president (even though Democrats privately say that’s laughable) and instead portrays him as saintly, above reproach and the victim of jealousy or something worse.

After 26 years in the House, she says, “I haven’t seen anything like it. I haven’t seen anything like it.”


Throughout a 50-minute interview on Thursday in her second-floor Capitol office, where the late Speaker Tip O’Neill used to receive supplicants, Pelosi was sharply derisive about the scorn Republicans have for this president.

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“You know why it is,” she said. “You know why it is. He’s brilliant, … he thinks in a strategic way in how to get something done … and he’s completely eloquent. That’s a package that they don’t like.”

She sees echoes of the condescension many Republicans had for Bill Clinton: “They didn’t think he was one of them … because of his upbringing and his personal story of success … Although he had the Ivy League and the Georgetown education, he wasn’t rooted where most of the former presidents came from.”

Pelosi, age 73 and with no signs of mellowing, had just spent 10 minutes on the phone with Speaker John Boehner, 32 months after surrendering the gavel to him. She said she has “no idea … no idea” whether he will depend on Democratic votes to avoid default or a government shutdown, or whether he has plans that can eventually pass with Republican votes alone. Her private opinion: he has no idea either. All she knows for sure is that the Republicans’ initial plan to keep the government running past Sept. 30 — including the anti-Obamacare provision demanded by the right — is a dead letter with her caucus.

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“The Speaker knows that,” she said. “I call it the tea party continuing resolution, because they are obviously driving the ship. … We can do it the hard way — well, we can do it not at all, which is the path that they’re on now … They don’t want our vote. I believe that the path the Republicans are on is designed to shut down government. … [T]he question is: Can they have their ideological dream come true, or will there be some voice of reason?”

She sounded equally pessimistic about increasing the debt ceiling: “The Speaker has said that he does not want to default. But it’s one thing to say you don’t want to default, … then have all the building blocks for default put in place to do so.” She said she hopes the business community will convince Republicans not to walk that plank: “They bought them the gavel, didn’t they? … They should not be able use that gavel to clobber the economy over the head.”

Asked about her new relevance, with the possibility that Democratic votes will be needed to avoid a calamity, Pelosi jumped in: “I’ve not ever felt irrelevant.” Then she added: “I’d rather feel less relevant. I’d rather the Republicans just pick up the mantle, be responsible, pass a debt ceiling — that we can work with them more.”

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Pelosi said Obama is getting a bad rap from Democrats who complain – usually privately — that he doesn’t stroke them enough. “I’ve served since President Reagan,” she said. “I don’t know any member of Congress who ever said, ‘I’m satisfied with the communication that we have from the White House.’ That’s just the way it is. … I’m very proud of the president.”

Then she added a line that she has used before, that drives Republicans batty: “He has been … open, practically apolitical, certainly nonpartisan, in terms of welcoming every idea and solution. I think that’s one of the reasons the Republicans want to take him down politically, because they know he is a nonpartisan president, and that’s something very hard for them to cope with.”

Members have complained about the White House’s cancellation earlier this month of the annual congressional picnic. Pelosi said she doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but she understands the grumbling. “You’re talking about real power within your home: ‘We’re going to see the president of the United States,’” she said. “So, it was disappointing when that was canceled. … [I]n some ways, President Bush was a lovely person, and I had a good rapport with him. But we wanted to end the war in Iraq, he wouldn’t even talk about it. … I think not communicating on the war in Iraq is a lot different than canceling the family picnic.”

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In another dose of Politics 101, she added: “I was so thrilled when [Bill Clinton] became the nominee. And some senior member said to me: ‘Prepare yourself to be disappointed, because you’re thinking that you are all going to be in this together. He is the president and this is the Congress.’ And as they predicted, there would be some triangulation — which people were unhappy with at the time, if you recall. So, what’s new?”

“This president, I think, has to do a better selling job,” she said. “I assume the people know the difference his presidency has made in taking us from … the verge of depression … One thing I would like to see the president do more — and many of us can help with that — but people want to hear it from him: … ‘This is what I said I was going to do. This is what I have done. These are the obstacles that the Republicans have put forth.’ … It’s not only important to do the right thing, … it’s important to prepare the American people for some of those decisions.”

Pelosi sounded surprisingly bearish about Democrats’ chances of picking up the 17 seats they need to win control. “We can win back the House,” she said. “I’ll know a little bit better in a … couple more months.”

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As to how long she’ll stay, her marker was: “What is important to me is the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” which begin next month.

The only time Pelosi bristled was when we asked her who the next House Democratic leader will be. “You must be kidding,” she said, not kidding. “We have a House Democratic Leader. So not so fast on the next one.”

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