Driving Miss Nancy. Who's the sell out?

The Democratic Party voted overwhelmingly for Nancy Pelosi to become the Minority Leader.  Although that is quite a joke, and shows how stupid that Party is for keeping her in leadership, that is not the real story here.

The real story is the ridiculous backdoor deal she struck with Congressman Jim Clyburn from South Carolina. Clyburn was hoping to secure the number 2 spot, the Minority Whip, against Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Instead, Pelosi made a deal with him to step aside so Hoyer could become the number 2. In exchange, Pelosi would nominate him for a newly created position, called Assistant Leader.

Clyburn urged the Democratic lawmakers to accept Pelosi's proposal, stating that "the best way to resolve this issue, maintain diversity in the leadership and cohesion in our caucus is to pull up another chair to the leadership table..." Really?! Is that what we are calling it now? Clyburn's plea sounds more like him accepting to be Pelosi's whipping boy than him actually taking a viable leadership role.

This new position would make Clyburn the Number 3 person in the Democratic leadership. It sounds good on the surface, but if you look a little deeper, you will uncover that this position is nothing more than an attempt to appease Clyburn and the Black legislature by throwing a bone.  Where is the outrage?  Where is the CBC? NAACP? Jessie or Al?  Heck, Kanye?  They are always so quick to judge and jump all over people spewing racism. Where is their loud voice now?

I also don't hear anyone calling him a sellout. This is certainly a true example of one.  Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), CBC Chairwoman, was an avid supporter of Clyburn being the Minority Whip. She believed Clyburn as Whip "is the most logical position for him." Now, she praises his new position, touting the job will position Clyburn to continue "helping move the Democratic agenda forward." Sounds more like he will be driving Miss Nancy, instead of actually having a backbone and standing up as a leader within his Party. The difference is that I seriously doubt Nancy and Jim are good pals.

I have to thank my mother for the great title idea. I created a picture of Clyburn in the driver's seat and Pelosi in the back, but I am not trying to get sued so I decided to leave the picture out.

Does a Republican House help the cause, or hurt America?

With the recent election cycle concluded, I wondered what this shift in Power really means for us. While I am thankful that many incumbents were defeated, and the Republican Party is now the majority in the House, I am curious to see how this will truly benefit us.

My first reaction was of disappointment that the Republicans did not win both houses of Congress, but then I had to think back to the mid-terms during Clinton's administration. The Contract for America, which paved the way for a lot of good for our country, was successfully spearheaded by the Republican-led House and Senate.  The success of this initiative primarily secured Clinton's re-election and the beginning of the downturn of the economy.  Some of you liberals may not agree, but the fact is we were already headed in a downward spiral before W took the ranks.

With this being said, I am partially happy that the Republicans didn't sweep both houses.  If they did get the message from the people - that we are tired of the crappy job from our representatives - and made enough changes to make for a successful two years, their strides may be attributed to Obama's leadership.  Since we know he is not much of a leader, at least of this country, I would surely NOT want to see another 4 years of his mistakes.

Granted, I do not believe there is enough time in two years to undo the damage that he has already done.  But, I do hope the Republican-led House and the Democrat-led Senate (with some pressure from the Right and the thought of losing their jobs in 2012) would be able to at least help us head in the right direction.  This post is not an attempt to talk about the lack of skills and experience of Obama; that would be a much longer post.  I am not suggesting that I am glad certain candidates lost their races, or should have thrown their races for the sake of the overall strategy, but I am saying that this is an opportunity to allow Obama to continue to stick his foot in his mouth and continue to screw up so there can be a complete change of power in 2012.

I also believe that this is the time for the Republican Party to produce candidates that actually will work according to its core principles and the Constitution, not just rhinos in elephant clothing.  At the end of the day, I want our country to thrive regardless of who is in power, but we cannot continue to allow the current Administration to keep learning their lessons on the job.