The Changing Of The Guard

Today is an incredible day for all of us Democrats. Nancy Pelosi’s speech from the Speakers’ chair today was a master class in grace, civility and leadership. And it put the GOP Trumptards to shame. My favorite line was when, speaking of the midterm voters rejection of Trumpism and The Big Lie, she said, And with their votes, they proved through the night that the flag was still there. Her speechwriter deserves a raise for that line alone.

I’m not sure why anyone would be surprised by Pelosi’s gracious and heartfelt announcement. I never doubted that this would happen. Back in 2018, when the Democrats spanked the GOP for 40 seats, the House Progressive caucus was dead set against Pelosi becoming Speaker again. They thought that it was time for a changing of the guard in Democratic leadership. But with Trumpenstein clomping through the countryside, terrorizing villages, they were reluctantly convinced that stable senior leadership was required to deal with his threat.

And so Pelosi did what Pelosi does. She knows more about The Art of the Deal for breakfast than Traitor Tot knows about The most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you ever saw. She cut a power sharing deal with the House Progressive caucus. She agreed to a maximum term of 4 years as House Speaker, promoted promising progressive members to sub committee chairmanships, and picked the best and brightest to work with senior Democratic leadership to learn the ropes. I never doubted that Pelosi would walk away from power today, she is a woman of honor.

For decades now the Democrats have promoted themselves as the Big Tent Party. and look at the top tier Democratic leadership presumably going forward from today. An African American Muslim at the top, with a female and Hispanic male deputies. President Biden swore that he wanted his administration to more accurately reflect the melting pot of America, And when you look at the top tier leadership level of the Democratic House, it’s hard to see how it can get much more American melting pot than that.

But don’t let the tear in your eye from the triumphant Pelosi departure tour take your eye off of the ball. Because the changeover of Democratic House leadership has signalled a sea change in where the Democratic party goes from here. Pelosi is gone, Hoyer is gone, and Clyburn is gone. And with it goes the decades long, staid moderate control of the Democratic party. The progressive wing of the party is now truly ascendant, and is going to change the party’s platform going forward.

The House is going to more forcefully progressive, even in the minority. Which means that Blue Dog Democrats in the Senate like Manchin and Sinema now have a target on their backs. Smart moderated like Tester have already started to shift their priorities regarding the filibuster. And Senate Majority Leader Schumer has already signalled in the last 2 years that he is amenable to a more progressive agenda. Which is going to put pressure on the Democratic Senate to pass popular progressive legislation and send it to the House, where Kreepy Kevin McCarthy can torpedo it, so the Democrats can hammer the GOP with it in 2024.

But nowhere will the change be more apparent going forward than in national Democratic politics, specifically the presidency. Biden ran for President as a moderate, willing to work across the aisle to find common ground. And to an extent, that worked, he got bipartisan legislation passed. But even Biden found himself being pushed farther to the left by the House Progressive caucus in order to get things done.

Which places Biden in a dilemma. Within 24 hours of being called as the winners of the House, the GOP MAGAts in the House gleefully proclaimed that their next 2 years will be spent investigating Hunter Biden, and attempting to impeach Biden, Blinken, Garland and Mayorkas. With that kind of feral bullshit, especially if His Lowness makes it to the November ballot, it is highly likely that the Democrats will retake the House in 2024.

Which means that if Biden wants to run again in 2024, he is going to have to run on a far more progressive platform, because of the progressive House caucus. And if Biden decides to pass in 2024, whomever runs in 2024 will have to run on a more progressive platform, simply because that’s where the party’s head is at.

I’ll close with a historical comparison. As I have written previously, in 2013 the GOP Autopsy Report offered them a way to take a short term loss in order to turn the party into something much more palatable and competitive going forward. The GOP flipped double finger birds at that, ended up with Trump, and now an open civil war in their own party. The Democrats on the other hand, not only welcomed, but embraced generational transitional change, which puts them in an even stronger position going into 2024. It always comes down to choices.