Why Nancy Pelosi makes a poor Speaker of the House.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in America. The congresswoman from San Francisco is the second most powerful person in America (the Speaker is a more powerful position than the Vice-President) and second in line to the Presidency. That is a frightening fact because Pelosi is a terrible choice to serve as Speaker of the House. The Democratic party obviously endorses Pelosi but there has been some criticism within her own party. Rep. Jim McDermott of Wahington stated Pelosi is not left enough to suit the radicals. Perhaps her refusal to support impeachment proceedings against President Bush has something to do with that opinion.

The big question are what special powers and secrets does Pelosi possess to have muscled her way up the congressional food chain from Whip to Minority Leader to Speaker. What strings were pulled? What holds does she have? What trade offs were made? There is no questioning Polosi is a brilliant politician (or at least the team behind her is) because no one spends 22 years in Congress and ascend to Speaker of the House without exceptional political savvy and backroom political skills.

However, political smarts, voting record and stance on the issues are irrelevent to the position of Speaker of the House which is to be judged by a different standard than the rest of the House of Represenatives. Being an extremely public figure, the Speaker of the House must possess impeccable credentials and outstanding public demeanor. Pelosi boasts neither. She is the worst type of elected official being an elitist multi-millionaire totally out of touch with the realities of common folk.

The Pelosi family is worth an estimated $19 million including $5 million in Microsoft stock and owning a vineyard and hails from that most radical left elitist of radical left elitist cities, San Francisco. Pelosi views the world from the perch of her mansion. She is more political animal than public servant in that she obtained her seat in the 8th Congressional District of Calithornia through a "fix." Ailing from cancer, her predecessor handpicked Pelosi as replacement promising full support and Pelosi narrowly won the Democratic primary in the special election thanks to that "full support."

The Speaker of the House should present an image inspiring confidence in the public and articulate well before the media. After all, the Speaker is the voice of Congress and to say Pelosi is woefully inadequate in this role is a vast understatement. Not only an inarticulate speaker, Pelosi presents poor body language and apparrently gives no thought as to what pops out of her mouth. Who can forget her arrogant and elitist off the cuff put down comment of anti-Obamacare supporters as "astroturf."

A Speaker should couch words carefully and be diplomatic in criticizing opponents. Pelosi looked and acted like the rich lady looking down her nose at the little people. Then there is her now infamous, rambling, wiild-eyed and incoherent press conference "defending" herself after maligning the C.I.A. over Gitmo torture and been caught lying about how much she actually knew. Look at the footage. Anyone want that as a leader? Or President?

However, it could be much worse. Barney Frank could be Speaker of the House.