CHICAGO — Nancy Pelosi has spent a month coyly trying not to take credit for ringing down the curtain on the half-century run of a prolix play called “Scranton Joe.”
But blissed-out delegates here are not having it. Their attitude mirrors poet Andrew Marvell, who wrote, “Had we but World enough and Time, This coyness, Lady, were no crime.”
In his speech Wednesday night, Bill Clinton praised Joe Biden for “voluntarily” giving up the presidency.
But the crowd here, who gave Pelosi a standing ovation when she came out after Clinton, knew who the mastermind was behind the nick-of-time, get-the-hook, take-no-prisoners maneuver that they believe saved their party’s chances in November and turned this convention into a rager.
It was the first female House speaker and, as Republican former Speaker John Boehner called her, the best speaker of all time. The most powerful woman — and, along with LBJ, the most talented vote wrangler — in the history of Congress. The boss, who clearly inherited the DNA of her father, Thomas D’Alessandro, a famed party boss in Baltimore. People here were posting admiring Instagrams of Pelosi walking through the convention area, adding the soundtrack of “The Godfather.” “Godmother” buttons sprang up.
Unlike the party bosses of yore, Pelosi, 84, doesn’t swig Scotch and talk dirty. She’s a devout Catholic who likes chocolate ice cream sundaes. Before TikTok discovered “demure,” Pelosi looked demure.
But she has a dozen different ways to threaten and cajole and make you submit to her will — even if you are the commander in chief.
The cameras kept cutting to Pelosi’s face during Biden’s speech Monday night amid a sea of bobbing blue “We (heart) Joe” signs and “We love you, Joe!” chants, looking for signs of the pair’s schism. Some skeptical observers thought Pelosi was forcing her smile, as though, one person joked on X, you were singing “Happy Birthday” to a co-worker you hate.
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The two old friends and political allies have not been speaking since Pelosi and a coterie of other top Democrats — including Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries — told Biden to step away from Air Force One. Pelosi wanted an open convention, where more Democratic stars could compete, but Biden forestalled that by quickly endorsing Kamala Harris, who then exploded off the blocks.
Pelosi is sad about the rift with Biden, but what could she do? She wasn’t going to let someone who encouraged insurrectionists to take over the Capitol on Jan. 6 regain the Oval if she could help it. Her take-the-cannoli-leave-the-gun fierceness is a good model for Harris in how to play the game. When sentimentality collides with viability, it’s not a contest. “It’s not personal, Joe. It’s strictly business.”
Mindy Kaling introduced Pelosi on Wednesday night as “brat before brat was brat,” and as “the Mother of Dragons.”
Looking meticulous as always, in a lavender pantsuit, chunky necklace and her beloved stilettos, Pelosi started her remarks with the de rigueur thank you to Biden, and a litany of his accomplishments.
Then she moved to the matter of most importance to her: defeating the former president who egged on his “patriots” to smear the Capitol with feces and blood, bringing violence and sedition to that hallowed building.
“Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on Jan. 6,” Pelosi said. “HE DID. But let us not forget who saved democracy that day. WE DID.”
She quoted “The Star-Spangled Banner,” saying, “We gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”
Nancy Pelosi did help save democracy that night. And she helped save her party when she worked with others to persuade Biden that it was time to go home to Wilmington.
Mother of Dragons, indeed.
Maureen Dowd writes a column for the New York Times.
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