The Great and Powerful Nancy Pelosi

I had an entire post written on this Washington Post puff piece featuring the great and powerful Nancy Pelosi.  Unfortunately the post was swallowed in the bowels of blogger overnight.  There must be an omen in there somewhere.  Here is a close approximation to the original:

The Post felt compelled to write on the historic Pelosi Speakership noting the enormous power she wields in Washington.  So tight is her reign over the Democratic majority she helped build, Blue Dog Democrats everywhere willingly walked the plank to help her shove an unpopular left-wing agenda against the clear will of the American people.  Now she is as unpopular as her agenda:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is so unpopular in some places that she often avoids public appearances. During a recent House recess, she hopscotched across the country, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars at closed-door fundraisers, turning up in public only at the White House and in her hometown of San Francisco.

But under the Capitol dome, Pelosi is a towering figure, perhaps even a historic one. Capped by her central role in passing the landmark health-care bill in March, the California Democrat, 70, has transformed herself from the caricature of a millionaire liberal with impeccable fashion taste into a speaker on par with the revered Sam Rayburn, according to historians, pollsters and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

 Pelosi has risen above the caricature of a liberal with impeccable fashion taste?   Alrighty then.  Moving along, if we're honest there really is no dispute Pelosi is effective as Speaker if that means passing enormously unpopular legislation against the will of the people.  Pelosi is on a par of her own in that regard.  The test will be if she maintains her majority which the article maintains is and has been her primary goal.

Republicans seem to be hoping Pelosi's efficacy as Speaker will ultimately lead to her failure to achieve her primary goal:

They now portray Pelosi as almost a co-president to Obama, particularly in the run-up to the Pennsylvania and Hawaii elections this month.

"If Republicans win these two races, America will have two more congressmen standing up to the jobs-killing Pelosi-Obama agenda," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote in an e-mail to conservatives Wednesday. A similar appeal by the Republican National Committee -- the group that pictured the House speaker in a fiery blaze -- collected more than $1.5 million in the week after the health-care vote.

 Recent polls in Hawaii and Pennsylvania seem to prove the Republicans on the right side of the equation.  While Democrats in Obama's home district seem intent on fighting over who will be the more devoted to voting according to Pelosi's wishes, the Republican Charles Djou has gained a nice lead over both Democratic candidates.  It would be hard to argue this seat is a true bellwether for the fall midterm elections but a win is a win.  Pennsylvania, however, is a bellwether according to Charlie Cook much to his apparent dismay:

This month could provide important clues about whether the Republican storm is still gathering force.

On May 18, Pennsylvania will hold a special election in its 12th Congressional District to fill the House seat of the late John Murtha. This is the only congressional district in the nation that went for Republican John McCain in 2008 after backing Democrat John Kerry in 2004.

It is a swing seat long held by Murtha for his party, but this part of the Keystone State is showing signs of going Republican. A Democratic loss would underscore the narrative that Democrats are in serious trouble heading toward November.

Perhaps the most effective Speaker in recent history - according to the Post anyway - should take heed a storm is coming her way.  Women in similar circumstances haven't been able to withstand  the crushing blow.