With Nancy Pelosi, we witnessed one of the political greats

When writing thousands of columns about American politics, there are some you’d like to have back. The worst I ever wrote was in 2010, calling on then-House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to step aside.

The Democrats had just lost 63 seats in the midterm elections; I reasoned that “shellacking,” as President Obama termed it, called for a change in leadership. Diane Dewhirst, a top aide, cautioned me that was wrong and would not be forgotten.

That stupid column — had Pelosi followed its advice — would have negated the greatest speaker in the history of the United States House of Representatives.

As she now steps aside, after what was for Democrats a much-better-than-expected midterm election, we won’t see the likes of her again.

She possesses a masterful political touch, always giving or sharing credit with her colleagues.

When necessary, she is tough. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass), who served with her in the House for a quarter century, used to remind me: “She’s a D’Alesandro.” Her father and brother were mayors of Baltimore, where politics isn’t for the timid.

It’s very unlikely that ObamaCare would have passed without Pelosi, as she brokered delicate final deals to get the votes from both her more liberal and more moderate members. Over the next six years, she kept the caucus together to give President Obama more leverage to score some modest achievements.

She more than rose to the occasion as the top Democrat during the Trump years, standing up to his bullying and false claims.

When Trump gave one State of the Union address in the House chamber, she held out her hand at the start to shake the president’s; he stiffed her. After the address, she calmly tore up her copy of the speech.

After recruiting women and veterans and retaking the House in 2018, she set the predicate if the Democrats took the White House. She initially resisted, but Trump forced her hand on impeachment, and House Democrats — almost unanimously — voted to impeach him.

Then these past two years, after suffering some setbacks in the last election and with a small margin of less than a half-dozen votes, she secured passage of most of President Joe Biden’s ambitious agenda. It was almost all Pelosi’s doing, as she again kept on board the left-wing “squad” members and more moderate members from swing districts.

As the 82-year-old San Francisco representative steps aside, her accomplishments are already legendary.

“She has shepherded through some of the most consequential legislation in American history,” notes North Carolina Democratic Congressman David Price, “often despite what the pundits believed achievable.”

Pelosi honed her political skills as an activist in California politics. She was a protege of Phillip Burton, a Lyndon Johnson-like effective ultra-liberal. She shared his views, not his penchant for profanities; I’ve seen her blush when Burtonisms were uttered. After Burton’s death, he was succeeded for a short time by his wife, and then Pelosi won the House seat in 1987.

Working with Burton, Pelosi also sharpened her tough side. Rahm Emanuel — the take-no-prisoners former Chicago mayor and Obama White House chief of staff, now ambassador to Japan — told me the only person who ever intimidated him was Nancy Pelosi.

She never wavered from the hundreds of millions of dollars of Republican attacks ads against her over the past two decades. Instead, her attitude was “bring them on.” As much as Republicans attacked her, it wasn’t unusual to hear one of them say privately, “Wish we had a Pelosi.”

Most Democratic members respected and liked her, her uplifting spirit, devotion to the institution and genuine patriotism.

She could be very nuanced.

A great supporter of women in politics, during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — while officially neutral — Pelosi came to believe Obama was the better choice; Michigan and Florida had held renegade primaries, which Obama ignored and Clinton won. Clinton’s only chance was to have these delegates counted.

Having a good relationship, I persuaded Pelosi to give me an interview for Bloomberg television. When the presidential contest came up, she simply said: Michigan and Florida can’t be “dispositive.” Game, set, match.

Dewhirst was right about that foolish column of mine. That good relationship was put on hold. Whenever I ran into Pelosi over the next two years, she icily stared through me. I identified with Rahm Emanuel.

After paying penance, a couple years later I was invited to one of her luncheons with newspaper columnists.

She is an historic figure, someday the stuff of a latter-day Robert Caro biography.

There are three major House office buildings named after the notable House Speakers, Republicans Joe Cannon and Nicholas Longworth and Democrat Sam Rayburn.

It’s only a matter of time for the Pelosi House Office Building.

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of Bloomberg News. He previously served as reporter, bureau chief and Washington editor for The Wall Street Journal. For almost a quarter century he wrote a column on politics for The Wall Street Journal, then The International New York Times and Bloomberg View. He hosts Politics War Room with James Carville. Follow him on Twitter @AlHuntDC.