David Axelrod interviews former Secretary of State John Kerry on "The Axe Files" on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on CNN. Axelrod, a CNN commentator, was senior adviser to President Barack Obama and chief strategist for the 2008 and 2012 Obama presidential campaigns. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. View more opinion articles on CNN.

(CNN) When President Barack Obama was seeking House votes for an ill-fated climate change plan in 2009, I was summoned to Capitol Hill for a ritual flaying.

Democratic House members were rightly anxious about casting a politically fraught vote, particularly without any assurance the Senate would take it up. (It didn't.) So I was sent from the White House with the dubious assignment of making the political case to the Democratic caucus for the hazardous vote.

The moment I walked through the door, and before I addressed the group, the once and future Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi accosted me. "The President of the United States assured me that he would be out, making a public case for this vote," she said, jabbing a finger in my direction. "Where is he?"

Mercifully, God intervened. A clergyman took to the microphone, causing Pelosi to pause the tongue-lashing as she bowed her head and clasped her hands in prayer. But as soon as amens were said, she resumed her tirade.

"And if I don't see him out there, I am going to pull this bill!"

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