Pelosi is still doing her job, including participating in Democratic message meetings. It’s just that most reporters don’t care, since she has a much less exciting and influential job after the November elections.
I don’t doubt that Pelosi would like to be a bigger part of the political conversation (she’s a politician, after all), but I also think she’s smart enough to understand that drawing fire away from the Republicans isn’t necessarily what she ought to be doing right now.
She needs to spend her time trying to keep her own troops in line, and that’s not an easy job given the nervousness of the relatively few moderate Democrats left in the Caucus and the growing lack of enthusiasm with the president among the party’s most liberal elements.
“She has been able to keep her Caucus united, and that has kept the focus on the fracture on the Republican side. That’s part of her playbook,” said one Democrat friendly to Pelosi.
Of course, Republicans would love to keep Pelosi in the limelight, which is why they try to bring her into the conversation whenever possible.
The most recent USA Today/Gallup poll (of adults, not registered voters) that included a question about her, conducted in mid-January, found only 33 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of Pelosi, while a majority, 54 percent, held an unfavorable view of her.
But GOP attempts to keep Pelosi’s profile high enough to make her an issue next year are almost certain to fall short. Presidential elections — and presidential nominees — drive voters, and the Democratic Party will be defined by Barack Obama, not Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) or Nancy Pelosi, assuming of course that Congressional Democrats don’t do anything crazy.
Rep. Bill Cassidy has his blood drawn by Alesha Barbour during a free hepatitis screening in the Rayburn House Office Building hosted by the Congressional Viral Hepatitis Caucus to recognize "National Viral Hepatitis Testing Day."
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