Today, Nancy Pelosi told reporters that she could step down tomorrow as House Minority Leader. “I love you all very dearly, but I thought I’d tell my caucus first,” Pelosi said. “We may not have the majority. We may not have the gavel. But we have unity.”
Pelosi has presided over some of the best – and worst – moments of the House Democrats. She led them to victory in 2006; by 2010, she was out as Speaker after a historic landslide driven by the Tea Party. She rammed through Obamacare while telling the American public that they’d have to pass the bill in order to read it. She has been extreme on everything from fiscal to social policy.
But if she does step down from Democratic Party leadership, her greatest legacy will be leading the Party toward the hard left – and toward hard left victory. In the aftermath of the devastating 2004 Bush re-election, Democrats had a choice: moderate, or purge. Pelosi led the purge. America is still living with the consequences.