Pelosi: Hold sexism talk until after November
WASHINGTON–Just hours before a vanquished Hillary Clinton returned to the Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., weighed in on one of a lingering questions raised by the Democratic presidential primary: whether sexism played a role in Clinton’s defeat.
Pelosi—the nation’s first female Speaker—seemed skeptical about that notion. “Of course there’s sexism, it’s a given,” Pelosi said at a breakfast session with reporters Tuesday. But “being a woman had a positive upside in the campaign,” Pelosi said, including a bevy of “wildly enthusiastic” female supporters, that probably offset any discrimination. Even if it did play a role, Pelosi didn’t seem too interested in delving into the matter, saying Democrats didn’t have time for such introspection as they tried to win back the White House.
“Maybe I’ll be more interested in that after November,” Pelosi quipped. “I’m a victim of sexism all the time too. I don’t sit around saying ‘But for that’…I’m a full steam ahead person.”
Indeed, the Speaker was already looking beyond November, saying she had started to prepare her House Democratic colleagues for the possibility of major changes if Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., wins the White House. She said she’s told them to rethink how they operate, noting that “the expectations will be high, the results must happen” if Democrats control the White House and Congress.
When a reporter pulled her back to the here-and-now, with a question about Congress’ dismal approval ratings and whether the Democrats had really cleaned up Washington as promised, Pelosi said the public’s low regard for Congress had little to do with ethics and everything to do with Iraq.
Congress approval “is at an all time low … because we did not end the war,” Pelosi said.
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Sexism had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton’s defeat. For me, it was the fact that she is “business as usual” for the country and we can’t afford that anymore. I was a Hillary supporter before the primary but the more I heard her speak and the more I heard what Bill tried to do to Mr.Obama I slowly changed my mind.