Most. Effective. Speaker. Ever.
Even before he assumed the role of Speaker of the House, Tea Party favorite John Boehner achieved a magazine cover trifecta, gracing Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker. In contrast, none of those magazines granted Nancy Pelosi a cover during the four years she was Speaker (though she immediately made the Winter 2006 cover of Ms.!) The latest issue of Ms. calls out the media’s snubbing of Pelosi and makes the case that she is in fact “the most successful House speaker in U.S. history.
Ms. Declares Nancy Pelosi “Most Effective Speaker Ever”
When Nancy Pelosi hands off the gavel to John Boehner on Jan. 5., she will also be handing him a tough act to follow. In its cover story, the Winter 2011 issue of Ms. magazine (on newsstands Jan. 25) analyzes Pelosi’s record to conclude that she is “the most successful Speaker in U.S. history.”
Cover image at www.Msmagazine.com. Cover story pdf also available upon request.
Here are a few of her most impressive accomplishments:
1. More significant new public policy passed than any Speaker in the last 50 years, including:
* Health-care reform
* Financial reform
* Ethics reform
* $787 billion stimulus package
* Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal
* Student aid
* The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
* SCHIP (which extended health coverage to 11 million children)
* A minimum wage increase
2. 300+ additional pieces of legislation that were stalled in the Senate
3. Unprecedented party unity in voting
http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2011/SpeakerOfTheHouse.aspHistorians, analysts and policymakers from all points on the political spectrum confirmed Pelosi’s significance in interviews with Ms. reporter Linda Burstyn.
“We’re looking at an extraordinary set of accomplishments over a brief period of time,” observed Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “She ranks with the most consequential speakers, certainly in the last 75 years.”
Pelosi was unquestionably the driving force behind the passage of each piece of legislation, says Feminist Majority President and Ms. Publisher Eleanor Smeal, who notes also, “She is a feminist and she is for women’s rights unequivocally.”
If Pelosi’s efficacy is news to some, it’s because the media has often snubbed her. Neither Time nor Newsweek featured Pelosi on their covers in all the time she was Speaker (in contrast, Ms. put her on the cover immediately upon her inauguration). Both Time and Newsweek, however, have run covers featuring John Boehner—before he became Speaker.
“If others won’t give the first woman Speaker her due, it’s up to Ms. to set the record straight,” says Executive Editor Katherine Spillar. “And Nancy Pelosi’s not going anywhere—she’ll remain House Democratic Leader. In Boehner’s quest to sabotage health-care reform, he’ll face a tough opponent—perhaps the toughest in history.”
http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2011/SpeakerOfTheHouse.asp
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