A Woman's Ambition
| By Dana Goldstein - Oct 30th, 2006 at 1:31 pm EST |
| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
I've been intrigued by the flurry of articles about Nancy Pelosi that have appeared over the last several weeks, and particularly by the way they deal with her gender. In the New York Times this morning, Pelosi swears to a reporter that she never aspired to be speaker of the house:
Compare Pelosi, who grew up around politics and has served in Congress for nearly two decades, to Barack Obama, a senator at the beginning of his first term who unabashedly floats his presidential intentions. Why does Pelosi feel the need to deny her own ambition? Perhaps because we're still so uncomfortable with feminine power that we need to believe the women who wield it are just, well, accidents.
Her campaign aides play down her ambition, denying that she ever planned to lead anything -- an assertion Ms. Pelosi repeated in the interview.
But current and former associates describe her as infused with political aspirations almost from birth.
"She has always wanted to be speaker," said Tony Coelho, a former House Democratic whip. "She told me so 10 or 15 years ago."
Compare Pelosi, who grew up around politics and has served in Congress for nearly two decades, to Barack Obama, a senator at the beginning of his first term who unabashedly floats his presidential intentions. Why does Pelosi feel the need to deny her own ambition? Perhaps because we're still so uncomfortable with feminine power that we need to believe the women who wield it are just, well, accidents.
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And, as you note, Obama's new on the scene, which means he doesn't have a lengthy record to sift through to find ammunition. Pelosi, on the other hand, has plenty that can rile up Republican base voters. They're trying to limit her public persona prior to the election. I imagine if she becomes Speaker she'll be much less demure.