Pelosi Won. The Democratic Party Lost.

[wnylib]

68. JFK was a centrist Dem. But Republicans were moving farther

to the right and their fringe elements like the Birchers were becoming louder. To them, JFK was a commie.

The nation as a whole was liberal even under Eisenhower because of the FDR legacy like labor rights, Social Security, and financial regulations in the Glass-Steagall Act. But the right was determined to gain power and unravel the FDR legislation and programs. They also wanted to retain permanent political power and control to prevent future liberal policies and legislation.

Reagan/Bush was a conservative reaction against the rights movements of the 1960s and early 1970s. Following that national shift to the right, only a centrist Dem like Bill Clinton could get elected. Clinton agreed with and signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act which paved the way for more financial deregulations.

Centrism under JFK was more to the left than centrism was under Clinton because the whole country's views had shifted to the right during and after Nixon.

Nancy Pelosi was a JFK type liberal/centrist, who volunteered in the Dem party in the 60s but did not hold elected office until 1987.

Her leadership in the party and the House brought good results for Dems. But she is from another era when political norms were different. I think that she should be yielding to younger Dems and lifting up younger potential leaders to carry the party into new generations instead of holding them back. She had to climb her way to the top through significant obstacles of sexism and political power shifts, so she is geared more to self-defense than to mentoring. I think that that attitude can hurt the present party and she should be sponsoring younger future leaders.

It's time for Pelosi to take the advice that she gave to Joe Biden to step aside.